Ancestry.com and Facebook Reunites Brothers with Mother

“It’s never too late to be reunited with a loved one, even some 47 years since you last saw them.

Anthony Wiggs was put up for adoption by his parents in Puerto Rico in the 1970s.

He met his birth mother for the first time Friday morning after she touched down on a flight from Hartford, Connecticut.

“I just want to look in her eyes and see her smile,” Wiggs said at baggage claim.

His birth brother, Raymond Ramirez, was also on hand. They reconnected about 15 years ago, thanks to Anthony’s efforts on ancestry.com.

But finding mom proved a tougher search.

“For a while, we heard she was dead,” says Wiggs. “There was a death certificate and stuff, but there actually was someone with the same name around the same age.”

Wiggs eventually took to Facebook. After weeks of searching, he found a cousin, aunt and close friend to Elise Ramirez, the woman he thought could be mom.

After a couple of missed calls, he connected with the woman in June and simply knew. They arranged to meet this month in Dallas.

“Like a new butterfly,” she said in Spanish to describe her emotions on Friday.

Wiggs says his parents were originally overwhelmed by having two kids in their late teens, and couldn’t support the boys.

He is quick to point out his adoptive family was more than he could’ve ever imagined.

“My family that raised me, I had two brothers and two sisters. I had a great life. I wasn’t missing anything, except to see ’em,” said Wiggs.

The family plans to spend the weekend getting to know one another before hopefully arranging another visit down the line.”

Texas brothers reunited with birth mother 47 years after adoption

[WFAA 8/4/17 by Todd Unger]

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