In a time when adoption wasn't spoken about openly because there was a stigma attached to it, whether adopting a child due to infertility or giving a child up for adoption due to the inability to care for the child, Morden's Beverly Dyck-Hiebert-Wiebe was born in Grace Hospital in Winnipeg to her birth mother, where Children's Aid kept the pair together for a short time before finding a new home for Beverly.
"I was adopted out at the age of three months to Peter and Agatha Dyck of Glencross District. I was given up for adoption and they were the lucky parents to get me and take care of me and I had a wonderful home. My childhood was very good, but there was always something missing," Beverly's eyes watered and choking back tears she added, "and I wondered where I came from or who were my birth parents."
She found out from a boy at school that she was adopted. When she asked her parents, due to the stigma, they told her not to talk about it, and so she carried the unanswered questions around for many years.
She did find her birth mother in the late 1990s and met her with two half-sisters, but her mother was reluctant to open-up about Beverly's father and so when her mother died, so did the answers to her questions.
Last year, Beverly's son and his daughter sent in a DNA sample to an ancestry online site to see if there was a match, as there was. They found a brother living in Indiana who was their first point of contact, but it was a sister, 10 years younger than Beverly, who travelled from Pennsylvania to meet her long-lost sister.
Jackie Eplee thought it was possible to have other siblings as she had heard rumours of a possible half-brother in Halifax.
"My father was in World War 2, and he was a pilot but never overseas. So, it didn't make sense. He was in Saskatchewan, and he probably had a sweetheart. My husband had heard a story from him, very possibly Beverly's mother, being with the Air Force, he would have moved back to Toronto."
He passed away in 2021, during the pandemic of natural causes at the age of 97 and a half.
When asked what her father would have thought upon hearing the news of another daughter in the world, Eplee was very honest.
"I think he would've denied it, but because of DNA, it does make sense, but I don't think he ever knew he had a little girl."
Eplee had great things to say about Beverly's family and noted they are very protective of her, feeling grateful for the opportunity to spend time sharing stories and getting to know her.
"My first two thoughts were, 'Ohh my goodness, you look like my Auntie Grace and you're beautiful.' She has an amazing family. And Murray (Beverly's son) is, maybe not look-wise but almost identical career path to my brother (Garry). He is a minister. He works out at the Bible College, so it's kind of cool. The two of them have not met, but I think in the next year or so that will happen, as well as my sister in Toronto. She is very, very interested in meeting Beverly."
Eplee came bearing albums filled with black and white pictures telling the story of her family and parents who were married 58 years. They had four children, 2 girls and 2 boys, one of Eplee's brothers has passed away.
When asked what it was like to meet, Eplee, Beverly's timid face smiled.
"It's been wonderful to know, 'Where did I come from?' 'Who do I look like?' 'Do I have a sister somewhere?' Which, I didn't know until Murray got into this. And so, it's been a good experience, but it will be a lot to process in the future."
When asked what her thoughts were on her younger sister, Beverly grinned, "She's a beautiful gal. She's very easy to talk to. I was very nervous when she came, but she just walked in and was so friendly and cheerful, and I'm very glad I have met her."
Beverly is a woman of faith in God. She had often prayed to meet her family and had almost given up after seventy-some years. She is grateful for the answered prayer, knowing there is so much to still process as the story unfolds.
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