Iowa Sibling Search and Reunion Story Through Facebook

Though it is disturbing that a 7-year-old went  on Facebook, he was darn good at searching…this one has a happy ending.

“After 65 years apart, technology has helped two long-lost siblings reunite.

Betty Billadeau was separated from her little brother, Clifford Boyson, after they were sent to two different Chicago-area foster homes in 1948.

Hoping to get some answers, Boyson asked his neighbor’s son to look for his sister on Facebook.

The two saw each other for the first time in 65 years via online video chat.

Eddie Hanzlin was the catalyst for the two to meet. One week after Boyson asked Eddie to find his sister, the boy was back with her Facebook profile.

For decades, neither of them knew where to look.

But thanks to the boy’s prowess with social media, the two were talking this week. Boyson told his sister that he had been looking for her ‘a long, long time,’ according to KDSK.

He managed to find her by searching her maiden name, which was also Boyson.

Mrs Billadeau spoke to her brother from her home in St Louis using an iPad. She said that finding her brother repaired a hole in her heart.

The overjoyed sister said that she plans to drive from her home in St Louis to Davenport, Iowa, where her brother now lives, to see him in person for the first time since 1948.

She called the whole experience ‘mind-boggling.”

 

Long-lost siblings who had been separated as children in 1948 reunited after 65 years by brother’s 8-year-old neighbor who found his sister on Facebook

[Daily Mail 1/10/13]

“An Iowa man and his sister have reunited 65 years after being separated in  foster care thanks to a 7-year-old friend’s Facebook search.

Clifford Boyson of Davenport met his sibling, Betty Billadeau, in person  Saturday. Billadeau drove up from her home in Florissant, Mo., with her daughter  and granddaughter for the reunion at a hotel in Davenport.

Boyson, 66, and Billadeau, 70, both tried to find each other for years  without success. They were placed in different foster homes in Chicago when they  were children.

Then 7-year-old Eddie Hanzelin, who is the son of Boyson’s landlord, got  involved.

Eddie managed to find Billadeau by searching his mom’s Facebook account with  Billadeau’s maiden name. He recognized the family resemblance when he saw her  picture.

“Oh, my God,” Boyson said when he saw and hugged Billadeau

“You do have a sister,” Billadeau said.

“You’re about the same height Mom was,” Boyson said.

Billadeau’s daughter, Sarah Billadeau, 42, and granddaughter, Megan  Billadeau, 27, both wiped away tears and smiled during the reunion.

“He didn’t have any women in his life,” Sarah said. “We’re going to get that  straightened out real fast.”

Boyson said he’s looking forward to visiting Billadeau near St. Louis and  meeting more family.

“I’m hoping I can go and spend a week or two,” he said. “I want to meet the  whole congregation. I never knew I had a big family.”

Eddie, who enjoys messing around with his family’s iPad, said he’s glad he  was able to assist in making the reunion happen and that he learned about  helping others at school.

“Clifford did not have any family, and family’s important,” the boy said.

Near the end of their tearful reunion Boyson and Billadeau presented Eddie  with a $125 check in appreciation of his detective work.”

 

Brother and sister separated as children in foster care enjoy tearful reunion 65 years later

[New York Daily News 1/14/13 by Associated Press]

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