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Man's quest for answers pays off
After years of searching and wondering, Spotsylvania County man connects to the family he never knew he had
Date published: 11/20/2008
By CATHY DYSON If John Jenkins hadn't been thrown from a cherry-picker 17 years ago and suffered injuries that will last a lifetime, he may never have found out who he is. Jenkins, 52, started having visions of a mother he couldn't remember and sisters he had met briefly as a child. The dreams apparently were triggered by the trauma. In 1991, Jenkins was working in Prince William County, standing in the bucket of a crane to fix a traffic light. When a tractor-trailer struck his truck, he was hurled to the pavement. In the months that followed, Jenkins had 15 surgeries to fix his fractures, including a broken back. Because the Massaponax man wasn't wearing a safety harness, he didn't get a settlement to cover loss of future earnings, just a lump sum for medical bills. "And that's long gone," said his wife, Deby. Jenkins isn't bitter about what happened, even though he can't work because he has limited strength and trouble concentrating. He'll start a story, offer a visitor a mug of hot cider, then walk out of the room as he asks Deby to pick up where he left off. "She'll tell you how I feel," he said, smiling. "She's the other half of me." Jenkins is at peace with himself because he finally has answers. They're complicated ones. His family tree is full of overlapping branches and includes a secret that stayed hidden for half a century. AN UNHAPPY CHILDHOOD The first night after he fell from the truck, Jenkins started dreaming about his childhood. There weren't any pleasant memories. From the time he was about 6 until he joined the military at 17, he was bounced from one farm or foster home to another, all near the Virginia border with North Carolina. As soon as he was well enough to travel after his accident, he and Deby went to Danville to search social services records. He discovered his mother had died four years earlier. He met one of his sisters--their reunion was featured in a 1992 Free Lance-Star story--and talked with the other by phone. Jenkins had periodic contact with the women in the years that followed and pieced together vague details about his troubled family.
Date published: 11/20/2008
justice, you are incorrect..
(posted by
btrflykys
, Nov. 20, 2008 9:18 am)
if you re-read the article he was under the impression that grants father was the brother of the man he was told was his father. that would also make them cousins. he did not know that they had the same father until after talking to her.
He is a half brother
(posted by
Justiceforall
, Nov. 20, 2008 8:35 am)
to Grant and not a first cousin as stated in this article. The only way he could ba a first cousin is if his mother and Grant's mother were sisters.
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