BAY ST. LOUIS, MS - At Jackie Baughman’s Bay St. Louis home -- she flipped through a photo album. The 65-year old can’t help but smile. Family has always meant so much to her.
“I’ve always been open to family,” said Baughman, speaking to WWLTV’s Paul Dudley. “I’ve always felt like there was room for one more.”
Though something has always been missing, she says. Baughman was adopted at 18 months. She never got the chance to meet her biological father and always had questions.
“Did he really want to know me? What was he like? What kind of person was he?”
Baughman recently found her father. Unfortunately, he had died many years ago. In the process, though, she found a private investigator willing to lend his services for free. He led her to a family member she never knew she had.
“So he got on the phone. It was Mr. Ames from Niagara Falls. He said you’ve got a sister. I said I know she lives in Illinois,” said Baughman. "He said no, no, you don’t understand. You have a sister. Your father had a child.“
It was her half sister -- Dawn Marie Austin from Oshawa, Ontario.
“I just told her how excited I was. She was excited. She said after we spoke that day she went outside and there was a double-rainbow and she said it’s got to be good luck,” said Baughman.
The two started to talk once a week and email constantly but they had never met in person until Tuesday. During the arrival at Armstrong Airport the two ran after he each other and held one another in heartfelt hug that last several minutes.
Everyone is headed back to Baughman’s home in Bay St. Louis. They will celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday. On Friday, they will celebrate Christmas. Two families and two hearts once divided --- now together for the holidays.