Dixon Handshaw thought he was an only child for most of his life. But decades after his adoption, the 75-year-old learned he had several siblings, whom he met just in time for the holidays.
Over the weekend, Handshaw - who lives in North Carolina - flew to Rochester, New York, where he met up with some of his half-siblings ahead of the family's annual Christmas party.
"All my life I've dreamed of having siblings somewhere," Handshaw told CNN affiliate WHAM, which documented the siblings' first meeting at the airport on Friday. "This is my Christmas miracle."
On Saturday, Handshaw met more than 50 relatives he didn't know existed until earlier this year, he told CNN on Tuesday. The gathering, which included cousins and their children, was a lovely surprise for Handshaw, who was the only child of his adoptive parents and has no children of his own.
"I've never met anyone who shares my DNA," Handshaw said. But once he met the relatives, the sense of connection was immediate, he said. "It was wonderful," he added. "I have never felt such an outpouring of unconditional love like that from my new family."
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1949, Handshaw was adopted when he was just three months old and had a happy childhood, he added, noting that his parents were sincere about the adoption.
"I always wanted to find them, but New York State had sealed the birth certificates before the adoption and it was impossible to find out," Handshaw said. In 2020, original birth certificates were opened to adoptees in New York following the passage of a 2019 law.
Handshaw received his original birth certificate in August of this year, he told CNN. Then he learned the name of his biological father: Robert "Bud" Romig.
"The first thing I did when I got Dad's name was Google him, and his obituary came up," Handshaw said. "Not only was I shocked to see that I was exactly like him, but I immediately realized that I had all these brothers and a sister."
Handshaw doesn't know why he was put up for adoption, but he does know that his father was a graduate student in the physics department at Cornell University. His mother was a secretary in the department, he said.
His birth mother never had any more children, Handshaw said, but she always wondered if his father had other children.
After Handshaw was born, Romig settled in Rochester with a woman who had three sons of her own. Romig adopted the three boys, Handshaw said. The couple later had five children – four sons and one daughter. Handshaw reached out to Gary Romig, one of his father's adopted sons, he told CNN.
"I chose Gary as the person to call because I knew he was adopted and I was adopted, so I thought he would be more sympathetic to my situation," Handshaw said. Gary was at work eating lunch when he got the first call from Handshaw, according to WHAM.
"I had a call and I didn't recognize the number. I rarely answer the phone if I don't recognize the number. But for some reason, I responded," Romig said. “And he says, 'Hi, my name is Dixon. Are you Gary Romig?' I said, 'I am.' He says, 'I'm your brother,' and I'm like, 'What?'"
Handshaw sent a photo of himself to Gary, who immediately recognized his stepfather's face. “I sent him a picture, and (Gary) sent the picture to all the sisters and brothers,” Handshaw said. "They said, 'It's daddy!'" Gary kept his siblings anxious for two and a half hours before telling them, 'This is your new brother,'" Handshaw told CNN.
Although Handshaw won't be spending Christmas Day with his new family, he intends to spend more time with them in the future.
"We're going camping together this summer," he said, adding that he and his siblings already have a dedicated set of lyrics. "We're on it every day," Handshaw said. For now, Handshaw and his siblings are making up for lost time, but their meeting was better late than never, he stressed.
“I had wonderful adoptive parents. They were wonderful. I love them and I miss them, but I've always wanted sisters and brothers, and now I have them," Handshaw told CNN. “I thought one or two would be great. I had six!". (A2 Televizion)
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