TAMPA, Fla. — A family reunion more than 50 years in the making took place at Tampa International Airport Tuesday evening.
"All I expected was to find out what nationality I was. That's it. That's all I was even looking for," said Jody Castle.
Castle explained that was the reason she went through the Ancestry.com DNA test. She was adopted at birth and was always told she was an only child. After going through the process, Castle found out in January that she had a full-blooded sister, Fran, and full-blooded brother, Craig.
"I have an entire family that I never ... I always thought I was alone, so it's really nice to have family that is real true blood family," said Castle.
Castle and her newly-found sister, Fran Whiddon from Alabama, met and then learned (through Heritage DNA) they have another sister, Jennifer Tomsovic, who lives in Indiana. Tomsovic admitted she was skeptical and it did not seem real at first.
"Not knowing her, it's like we have been connected our whole lives. We just bonded and connected immediately. There is definitely a special bond," said Tomsovic.
"Until now, there has just been a piece of my life always missing. Incomplete. Now the puzzle is complete and getting fuller," said Whiddon.
The sisters said so far they have learned they have eight siblings in total, so they are still searching for four others.
Castle posted this on her Facebook page about her parents:
"We need help finding the rest of us. We were born in Hammond, (Lake County) Indiana to Helen (Wierzbicki) Grauvogl from East Chicago, who passed away 20 years ago and birth father Joseph Burba passed away 28 years ago."
