44 Years Ago My Sisters Saw Me For The Last Time.......

I assume that most families have their secrets and if you have read this blog before you would know my family’s history is full of them. I have not unlocked all of the mysteries but I am thrilled to say that I have unlocked one of the best ones.

First, a little back-story – I have two sisters, Valerie and Lucy. Their mom (my mom) had left their family some 44 years ago. I had began searching for my mother’s family on July 4, 1996 and found my Aunt Gloria (I wrote a little about that here). When my aunt visited me she brought along a few pictures of my mom and her first family. Included in those pictures were two grade school photos of Val and Lucy. I remember holding those pictures and dreaming about the day when I would get the chance to meet them face-to-face. What did they look like today? What kind of people were they? Would they like me? That hope dimmed when my wife began searching by phone for their father and came across a very sour lady, their stepmother, who told us they, “ did not want to have anything to do with me and they were not at all interested.” So I hung up the phone (well actually she hung up the phone on me), I packed away the photos and left that dream behind…. for a season. That was late 1996.

In 1999, as I began preparing my application to serve as a missionary with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and I had to obtain a “full” birth certificate from the county clerk’s office in Mt. Holly, New Jersey (OK – I was born a Yankee – but I am southern by adoption!). All I had in my possession was an abbreviated birth certificate with just my name and date of birth with the county seal attached. So after sending a letter requesting the full birth certificate the county clerk’s office wrote back and to my surprise stated that they had no record of a birth for “Brent Lee Eber Dix.” How strange? I always had four names on my birth certificate and thought that was pretty cool. So I pulled out my certificate and reviewed the name. Then I saw it! It was clear as day! I could not believe I never saw this before! My birth certificate had been forged! My last name “Dix” had been typed on the certificate. My parents had forged my birth certificate! My real name was Brent Lee Eber!

With this new information I called the county clerk in Mt. Holly and she mailed me the full birth certificate for ‘Brent Lee Eber’.

I discovered that my Mom’s first husband was an Eber (only from the information I had from my aunt). On the certificate there was no father was listed. But now a new question – Was my dad my dad? Was this Eber fellow my dad? Could I find my sisters with this new information?

Now, don’t get me wrong. In my heart, the dad that raised me was my real dad. So if I found out anything different there would be no ploblem there. It was more of a quest to locate my sisters and less about whom my biological father was.

Armed with this new birth certificate I decided to start the search again for my two half sisters.


In March of 2000, with the new birth certificate, I posted this entry on a message board at Ancestory.com:

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Brent Lee Eber
Author: Brent Lee Eber Date: 19 Mar 2000 7:49 PM GMT
Post Reply
Looking for anyone that knows Brent Lee Eber. Two half sisters out there somewhere. Connection: Glenda Hughart/Eber. 1962 or earlier.
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I remember checking back with the message board several times and there was never a new message. In the meantime we had been accepted to the mission board and packed up and moved on to serve as missionaries in Costa Rica and then Mexico City, Mexico. My mistake was that I never changed my forwarding email address at Ancestory.com.

We served our time in Mexico and shortly after making the decision to return back to the US I decided to check back with Ancestry.com and see if anyone had left a message. Now this was in early 2005 or five years after the initial message was left. And to my surprise the following two messages were waiting for me:

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Re: Brent Lee Eber
Author: Valerie Eber Date: 5 Jul 2002 8:56 AM GMT
Classification: Query
My mother was Glenda Hughart/Eber, I have a sister and always knew I had a half brother somewhere. Please contact me at ********@aol.com instead of the address above. I have been looking.
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Wow! And then this message:


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Re: Brent Lee Eber
Author: Lucy Eber Date: 26 Dec 2002 7:29 PM GMT
Classification: Query
Glenda Eber is my mother and I believe you are my half brother. . Would love to hear from you. Please contact me at this email address.
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Double WOW! I knew my sister’s names were Val and Lucy and I never dreamed that this day would actually come! And then, as I looked closer at the messages, I saw the messages had been posted TWO years earlier! Had I missed my opportunity to know them and meet them? Why had I not thought to change my forwarding email address? Would I be able to find them or had I lost them again?

I typed a quick note to them both hoping that their email address would still be the same. And then………………….To be continued……………