Wednesday, May 1, 2002
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Wednesday, May 1, 2002 |
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After a generation, Goza family welcomes long-lost daughter
By JANET McGREGOR
The mystery for 53 members of the Goza family in Fayette County and the surrounding Atlanta area has been solved. For Tracy Tulumello, a 15-year search has ended. And Brenda Kernan finally found the piece of herself she had been missing for over 38 years. Early in March, members of the local Goza family began receiving a letter from Tracy Tulumello that began, "Hi, I'm searching for my birth mother." The letter went on to name the mother, Brenda, and give a few details. Tracy's letter said she had been born at Crawford Memorial Hospital in 1963 and that her mother was a teenager named Brenda Goza who had blond hair and blue eyes. No one connected the letter with their relative named Brenda. She had married and had two grown sons, Michael and Kenneth. No one in the Goza family had ever heard a word about a teenage pregnancy. Fayetteville resident Harold Goza was the first to connect the letter to his niece, but he wasn't sure. He asked his brother in North Carolina, who said no, he wasn't aware of anyone in the family who had given a baby up for adoption. Goza's sister in Alabama said the same thing. His sons, Tim and Joe, called him asking if he knew anything. Goza finally decided to call Brenda, who now lives in nearby East Point. Brenda says Harold's call came as she was walking out the door for work. He had called earlier and left a message, but she hadn't returned it yet. Running a few minutes behind, she opted to let the recorder pick it up only to hear him say he had something important to talk to her about. She picked the phone up and, after a few preliminary questions to ascertain she was the right Brenda, heard the words she had been longing to hear for almost 38 years: "I got a letter from your daughter and she's looking for you." Brenda started crying, "My baby, my baby." She later said, "My feet didn't touch the ground for a week." With permission, Harold called Tracy in California and she, too, heard words she'd been hoping to hear: "I think I may have found your mother." For Brenda and Tracy it was a tumultuous and long wait for the end of Brenda's shift at Owens Illinois. "My biggest fear calling my new mom for the first time was that she had a whole new life and I was this big secret that no one knew about," said Tracy. "That she didn't want anyone to know." As it turned out, the Goza side of the family didn't know about Tracy, but Brenda's mother's side did. "It was wonderful," said Tracy. "She wanted me in her life as much as I wanted her. Also, I had two bonus brothers." "It was unbelievable," said Brenda. "I have thought about her every day of my life. I never thought I'd see her." Brenda, who lived in East Point and attended Headland High School, became pregnant at 16 and had Tracy shortly after she turned 17. Knowing she couldn't raise the baby, she made the difficult decision to give the baby up for private adoption. Brenda spent her pregnancy with two aunts, first in Louisiana, then in Atlanta. "In 1963 it wasn't the thing to do go off and get pregnant," said Brenda. "It was a shameful thing to do." Four days after her daughter was born, she handed her over to the adoptive parents. "For the nine months I carried her I told her how much I loved her," she said. "I called her Tracy." She was thrilled when she found out her long-lost daughter had been named Tracy by her adoptive parents. "I just called her that they never knew." "I always knew I was adopted," said Tracy. "From an early age my adoptive parents told me I was special, that I was a chosen child. Growing up, I always wanted to find my birth mother." Her adoptive parents were supportive of her quest to find her birth mother. At one time in her 20s, her adoptive mom volunteered to come with her to Georgia to find her. Circumstances didn't allow the trip, but Tracy continued her search. In Georgia, Brenda longed to know her missing daughter. "She never left my mind," she said. "I was always reading Dear Abby or watching shows where children searched and found their mother." She clipped articles and even registered with an agency in Nevada that specialized in matching adoptive children with parents. Tracy hired someone to try and find her mother to no avail. She also later registered with the agency in Nevada, and was contacted by them after finding her mother to tell her they'd located Brenda. "I always thought of my birth mother and the rest of the family I might have. I always understood why she gave me up," said Tracy. "She was only 17 years old. She wanted a better life for me. I always thought one day she would be glad to hear from me." Sept. 11 was the impetus that gave the search for her birth mother a new life. "I got this bright idea one day at work," she said. "I felt somehow now was the time to search again." Using her computer, she typed in the name Goza in the white pages and came up with 53 Gozas living in Georgia. She wrote to all of them. "The rest is, as they say, history." A few weeks ago Brenda and Tracy met for the first time in 38 years. Strangely enough, they once again only had four days together before Tracy and her daughter, Nicole, had to return to California. "I can't even put it into words," said Tracy about the reunion. "I found my past, my present and my future, all at the same time. "We seem to have this special bond already. We are so similar most of the time. I can't wait to really get to know everything about her." Brenda was also amazed over the many similarities. "It is totally unbelievable the things we do that are alike." They laugh alike, they even start at the back of a book rather than the front. Of course, the family resemblances don't stop with the many mannerisms they share the physical similarities between the children and grandchildren are noticeable. The pair have continued to talk via computer or telephone every day since. They are also planning another trip, which, according to Brenda, "will be longer than four days!" After all, the families have a lot of catching up to do.
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