Finding Cheryl

I want to share a super-cool story with you. To begin, you need a little background information on my Mom, Cheryl’s, side of the family. My mom’s dad, William Van Dyke, passed away when my mom was sixteen. She had never met any of his family. Mom’s parents had divorced shortly before her dad passed away so she was never comfortable asking her mom about her dad’s side of the family. She knew that he had a sister named Annabelle and thought that he might have had a brother and that is all that she knew. She had tried to find Annabelle Van Dyke, but didn’t know her married name or where in the world she lived so she never found anything.


Now fast forward to January of this year. I was going through old pictures that I found at my parents house because that is just one of those things that I do. One picture that I found was of a wedding. It was a beautiful black and white picture; a gorgeous bride and groom, fantastically dressed mother-of-the-bride and all groomsmen and ushers and bridesmaids all around. I searched the faces trying to find one that looked familiar. After all this picture was in with all of the other old family photos, I must know someone in it. Then I saw the one face that I recognized. On the far right I recognized Mom’s Dad’s face. I have obviously never met my grandfather, but I have his picture up on my chest of drawers at home. I took the photo out of its cardboard holder and flipped it over to see if anything was written on the back. It listed the names of the bride and groom, Annabelle and Ralph Kallenberg. Now we had it! Annabelle’s married name! I took the picture home and started searching on the internet for Annabelle Kallenberg. That is when I found this:

Annabelle’s obituary. She passed away in March of 2006. While this was disheartening, we also now had a list of all of her family that survived her. My mom’s family! Next I did an internet search for Ralph Kallenberg, Lancaster, PA. And I found a phone number.


The next morning I raced over to Mom and Dad’s house to show her what all I had found. Once we found Ralph’s phone number again we decided to give him a call. Mom was just beside herself with excitement. We had no idea how the phone call would go. Was this the Ralph Kallenberg? Would he know who Mom was? Would it be the right phone number? She dialed. A man picked up the phone. It was Ralph’s son Greg who had come to visit him for the day. For the first time in her life my mom was talking to one of her cousins on her dad’s side! There were tears of joy and excitement! And then she talked to Ralph- her uncle!! Ralph gave her some more phone numbers and addresses of her other family members one of which was Henry Van Dyke.


Henry was her father’s brother. Her other uncle! A blood relative on her dad’s side! It was such an exciting day! Henry then went on to tell Mom that he has a folder on his desk that is titled “Finding Cheryl” and that he had been looking for her for years. He didn’t know her married name though and so ran into the same problem that Mom did when she was searching for Annabelle. Mom and Van (that is apparently what everyone calls him!) have been emailing back and forth ever since. In his first email to mom he writes (in all caps), “CHERYL, YOUR CALL TONIGHT HAS MEANT A LOT TO ME BECAUSE THAT HELPS FILL A VOID IN MY LIFE. THE MORE I THINK ABOUT YOUR CALL THE CLOSER I COME TO TEARS. I THANK YOU FROM THE DEEPEST PARTS OF MY HEART & SOUL."




And today, yes today, Mom is flying to Virginia to meet her family! After 50 years Uncle Van is the first direct blood family member on her dad’s side that she is meeting! It really brings tears to my eyes when I think about that. She is gaining an entire family today. I am just so happy for her!


Thankful,
Michelle