CHAPTER 5: WE START A FAMILY (1963-1967)
From September 1963 to April 1964 I spent six hours a day again in an Air Force technical school learning basic electronic theory and the practical application as applied to Weather Equipment. From there, in the spring of 1964 we headed for McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. Here I worked in a depot level maintenance shop which provided equipment to air force bases from Virginia to Maine. In addition, we also visited each base (usually once per quarter) to ensure that equipment was properly maintained and calibrated. I also made two trips to Greenland and two to Hudson bay Canada during this period. However, the most significant accomplishments during this period were on the personal rather than professional level.
Having been told earlier in our marriage that it would not be possible to have children we decided to undertake what was necessary to adopt a child. Our first encounter was with a Catholic adoption agency and it is a wonder it did not scare us off. The stack of "paperwork" was approximately an inch tall and the first question was "How many times have you missed mass in the last five years, and why." While we had attempted to get to mass regularly during our "flying around" the world, we were by no means perfect. This immediately sent us looking for another avenue and we came across a local United Way supported agency whose initial application process was one page long. After a very brief application process, a few interviews and a couple of home visits, a 6 month old son was placed with us in June 1966. Without a doubt our pride and joy created a turning point in our lives. After 7 years of marriage, we were now a family. The state of New Jersey requires that a child be placed in a probation status for one year before an adoption is finalized by the court. The agency however made it clear from the beginning that their purpose was to make an appropriate placement of a child, not find reasons to deny placement. It was therefore clear when David was placed in June 1966 that unless something highly unusual happened (and we knew it wouldn't) that the placement would be finalized as expected in June 1967. Just as expected, the adoption was finalized in June 1967 and we immediately applied for a second baby. However, it appeared the Air Force's plans might interfere with ours as I got orders to Italy in August of 1967 which directed me back to Chanute Air Force Base for specialized radar training and then on to Italy. New Jersey rules about a years probation seemed to stand in the way of any possible adoption. However, not to be denied we went to work. First, we had to convince the adoption agency that there were credible people in Italy that could monitor the situation. We noted that being in the military automatically created a built in monitor called a commander. In addition, we suggested that the International Red Cross was a possibility. In the interim, I wrote a letter in David's name in which I emphasized how important it would be to have a sibling now, rather than 3 years later when we returned to the U.S. God smiled on us again, the adoption agency approved of the idea. I flew to Philadelphia (to get to McGuire AFB) and the agency actually opened their office on Veterans Day Nov 11, 1967 (we had not yet created artificial Monday holidays) to make the placement. After a few more weeks of specialized training I returned to New Jersey and we packed and had the movers come (by now I had enough rank and service time that the Air Force was funding our move) and pack us to go to Italy. Once again, we joined Mary's family in Rochester for Christmas and just before New Years I took our small car back to New Jersey for shipment to Italy and wen't to Kennedy Airport for a commercial flight to Milan, Italy. Once again I promised Mary that she and the kid's would join me in six weeks. As there was no Air Force housing at our base I would be required to obtain an apartment locally before the Air Force would move her and the two children over. Once again, there was an apparent glitch. Since our daughter's adoption was not finalized, the name we would choose was not legal for a passport and her birth name could not be placed on it either. We appeared to be at a standstill. Three days before they were scheduled to depart, Mary was downtown hoping to provide the last piece of the puzzle. She had been told that from that point it would take 4 to 6 weeks to send the info to Boston (area state department office). She had no way of knowing that in the meantime, from Italy, I had written to the office of New York Senator Bobby Kennedy. The reason for that choice was three fold. First Bobby Kennedy had a huge family. As a Senator he would be first to understand family separation. Second, he had just carpet-bagged into New York. Third, the office of the State Department involved was in Boston. If a Kennedy did not have clout in Boston then nobody did. On that afternoon, while Mary was battling red tape, Senator Kennedy's office called and talked to my mother-in-law about the situation. Three days later on the morning of scheduled departure the completed passport was in the mailbox. Once again, I was able to keep an off-handed promise of a reunion in six-weeks (middle of February). The family left New York on the way to our Italian adventure.
