Brothers separated at orphanage find each other

Nevada Daily Mail

After being adopted as a young child and separated from his older siblings, Steve Farley, 59, of Nevada, found his older brother in recent months after spending much of his life trying to find him and their other brothers and sisters.

"He was told that I'd died," Farley said of his older brother, Michael Riederer, 65.

Farley was still an infant when Riederer saw him for what he thought was the last time at a church the Catholic orphanage in Kansas City attended. Riederer and two other siblings, Judy and James, all wards of the state because their parents were alcoholics, were adopted together and moved away, told their infant brother had gotten sick and died.

But Farley was adopted at the age of four, growing up as a single child in Kirksville, Mo. He says he grew up knowing he was adopted, but not realizing he had other siblings.

When he was about 17 years old and got his birth certificate in order to get his drivers license, he was informed that he had brothers and sisters. It was not until years later, with the help of his family, a lawyer and other researchers, that he was able to find their names and eventually their locations.

"I was almost obsessed with the idea of trying to find out who they were," Farley says of the lengthy search for his brothers and sisters.

Because records from the orphanage had been lost and none of the original workers from the orphanage remained for them to contact, it took other means and extensive searching before the work of Farley and others finally reaped results.

Through the search he discovered that two brothers and a sister had already died. But after several attempts and help from several different people, Farley discovered Riederer's identity and location in Fresno, Calif.

Farley says his brother's first response to the phone call was to proclaim his brother was dead, since that was what he and the other older children had been told at the orphanage. Farley says he believes a lot of emotional pain could have been prevented if they had all been told the truth.

After receiving a plane ticket as a Christmas gift from his children, Farley traveled to Fresno to meet his brother for the first time in decades.

"It was just like walking up to someone on the street -- a stranger," Farley says of the first meeting.

Farley says they were antsy at first but also said Riederer was excited to meet him and they hit it off easily, spending the next week getting to know each other.

During that time they discovered details about each other that were similar, such as naming their firstborn children after each other, serving in the army and other information.

"A lot to absorb on both sides," Farley says of the situation. "My children are very happy and anxious to meet him."

Farley says his brother plans to visit him in Missouri in the near future to meet his family.

"It was bittersweet, not being able to speak to the other kids," Farley said concerning never getting to meet his other siblings, who had already died in previous years.

Farley's search continues for two other siblings who might have been born after him, but little information has been found to confirm their births. Farley says he will continue to look for them after the success he had finding Riederer.

"I really gave up on him," Farley says. "It's nothing short of a miracle that we found each other."