Dennis’ Story of
being found
Dennis was adopted, that is almost where this story begins. He was adopted by two very loving and
wonderful people who raised him in wonderful circumstances. He was well loved and grew up knowing that he
was adopted. His parents were never secretive
about that part, but all they knew was that he was part Native American, Born in
Bremerton Washington, and that he was a ward of the state. They encouraged him in his desire to learn
about the Pacific Northwest Indians and fostered his love of all things ocean
and beach.
He was curious about his birth
Mother, and a few times mentioned that he would like to know his heritage and
medical history, but never went looking for her as he was also told, “Somethings
are just best left alone”. So He did.
In July of 2014 Governor Inslee in Washington State, declared
that all sealed adoption records for persons who were adopted before 1993
should be unsealed. Dennis filled out
the paperwork and received his original birth certificate within a few
weeks. We started looking up the birth
mothers name, Olive May George Costa, and after a bit of sleuthing, located her in a censes in the tribal records
for the Port Gamble Tribe. Dennis
contacted the Tribe in September 2014, and was given contact information for
Patricia Rudd, who we would have to work through in order to get any more
information.
Patricia was very happy to help and
after looking at a copy of the Birth Certificate, found his Mother on the
tribal rolls for the Port Gamble S’Klalams.
She was sad to report that his Mother had passed away in 1982, but was
willing to help Dennis fill out the paperwork for enrolling in the tribe which
his mother had belonged to. In October
of 2014, He started this process and while we were waiting for all the steps to
take place, Dennis received a joyful piece of news. In July of 2015 Patricia called to let him
know that he was the youngest of 6 siblings, and that she had found contact
information for the oldest Sister, Sharon Black. Sharon and her Sister Cathie had been told by
their mother Olive, before she passed away, that she had had another Baby and
that they needed to find him.
The circumstances of this
conversation are in and of themselves a tiny miracle. Before Dennis was born, all 5 of his older siblings
were put into Foster Care and then put up for adoption by their Father, while
their Mother was recovering from domestic abuse. They were, all 5, adopted by wonderful
Parents, Dean and Alta Jacobson, and grew up as a group, thinking that they
were all that there was. It should be noted that Dean and Alta had already
raised children of their own and then adopted the 5 Costa children along with
another Girl, Barbara.
Upon the untimely Death of the
oldest Brother Gary, Olive came to the
funeral at the invitation of Alta, and shared with the girls that she had birthed
another boy after the kids had been taken from her. This boy, she told the girls, she had named
Donald, and they should go and find him.
They looked for about a year to no avail as they were looking in the
wrong state, Mis-information on the part
of Olive whose memory was not in very good shape.
After some time, Sharon contacted
the Tribe in Port Gamble and left her contact information, “In case Donald ever
comes looking for his Mom”. During the
process of enrollment, The Tribal member
working on Dennis’ paperwork remembered that she had contact information for
Olive’s son, Donald, when they realized that Dennis and Donald were one and the
same, the passed this information on to him.
Dennis sent an email to Sharon, and
asked if she was looking for a Donald Costa,
She replied and said she had been looking for him since 1986, and asked
are you he? Dennis replied, “I am he”, and the phone calls that ensued
were joyful.
There have been many tears of joy
and love, and sadness in these last few months. Joy at finding out that he was not alone,
there are Brothers and Sisters who want him in their lives. Sadness at the discovery that His Mother and
older Brother Gary have passed on and he will have to wait for that reunion.
We attended the Tribal Council
meeting in October of 2015 and Dennis was officially voted back into his tribal
family. We went up and spent
Thanksgiving with his Uncles and Aunts, some cousins, and one of His Sisters,
Cathie, who drove all the way up from Utah to surprise him for the
holiday. He has had such a warm welcome
from the four remaining siblings.
We are anxious to see what the
future holds, canoe trips in the sound
in hand carved canoes that Dennis will be able to help make. Salmon bakes on the beach of Point
Julia, complete with clams and oysters
that seem to want to just walk up to your fire,
tribal stories and Artwork to learn, and then pass on. So many cousins and Aunties to get to know
and laugh with, and Uncles who want to pass on their skills and traditions, all of this and more we look forward to. Thank you for joining us on this journey
and encouraging Dennis to follow his heart, it has led him to some pretty amazing
people.
