Woman Uses Facebook In Hopes to End 60 Year Search for Family
Updated: December 18, 2012
A Champaign County woman is hoping to connect with her cousins through Facebook.
The last time she saw them was at a children's home in Urbana.
She was only ten at the time, now she's 71 years old.
It's been 61 years of questions for Helen Lewis.
"Wondering where they are, if they had a good life, did they have good parents, were they treated well, did they go to college, did they have children?" Lewis asked rattling off questions about her cousins.
She's hoping Facebook can help give her the answers.
"For some reason I was on Facebook and I'm like hmm...I wonder if I did a Facebook thing and asked my Facebook friends to ask all their Facebook friends and so on and so on that someone might hit on this and say, 'They're looking for me'," said Lewis.
She's trying to find her cousins Jerry and Patty who were up for adoption when they were about ten years old.
They were sent to Cunningham Children's home in Urbana.
"At ten years old they must have thought why doesn't anyone want us, I can't even imagine what they went through," said Lewis.
The last time Lewis saw them was in 1949.
"I get very sad thinking of all the years we could have had a relationship, a friendship," she said.
That's why she's counting on her friends to help this search end differently than the others.
"It's worth a try, and if something comes out of this please dear lord, and thank you. But if it doesn't and i never find them than it was never meant to be," she said shrugging her shoulders.
But all Lewis wants is a chance to reconnectand tell them everything she never got the chance to say.
"We've missed out on so much, through no fault of our own. Just want you to know that i love you, we've missed you, and we would love to see you," said Lewis.
Lewis has tried dozens of things to find her cousins.
She's used adoption websites, written to a Champaign County judge, even tried using copies of their birth certificates to look them up.
She's just hoping she can get in touch with them before it's too late.
The last time she saw them was at a children's home in Urbana.
She was only ten at the time, now she's 71 years old.
It's been 61 years of questions for Helen Lewis.
"Wondering where they are, if they had a good life, did they have good parents, were they treated well, did they go to college, did they have children?" Lewis asked rattling off questions about her cousins.
She's hoping Facebook can help give her the answers.
"For some reason I was on Facebook and I'm like hmm...I wonder if I did a Facebook thing and asked my Facebook friends to ask all their Facebook friends and so on and so on that someone might hit on this and say, 'They're looking for me'," said Lewis.
She's trying to find her cousins Jerry and Patty who were up for adoption when they were about ten years old.
They were sent to Cunningham Children's home in Urbana.
"At ten years old they must have thought why doesn't anyone want us, I can't even imagine what they went through," said Lewis.
The last time Lewis saw them was in 1949.
"I get very sad thinking of all the years we could have had a relationship, a friendship," she said.
That's why she's counting on her friends to help this search end differently than the others.
"It's worth a try, and if something comes out of this please dear lord, and thank you. But if it doesn't and i never find them than it was never meant to be," she said shrugging her shoulders.
But all Lewis wants is a chance to reconnectand tell them everything she never got the chance to say.
"We've missed out on so much, through no fault of our own. Just want you to know that i love you, we've missed you, and we would love to see you," said Lewis.
Lewis has tried dozens of things to find her cousins.
She's used adoption websites, written to a Champaign County judge, even tried using copies of their birth certificates to look them up.
She's just hoping she can get in touch with them before it's too late.
