It is with a heavy heart I write this. My friend Esther Headrick has passed away. She was adopted in Kansas City in 1929. Esther wrote to me and asked how she could get a copy of My Little Valentine. Come to find out she lived in Manhattan, KS, in a retirement home and I offered to take a book to her. After our first meeting, we became fast friends and I would visit her often. She also loved to write and I enjoyed reading her work. She shared her story of being adopted by her wonderful parents and raised with her brother, also adopted. She remembers going to a building that she is sure is the Willows to pick up her baby brother. After helping her to get her OBC, we discovered it said she was born at the Fairmount but we never found out for certain where she was born or adopted from. We were able to figure out who her birthparents were and where they both were buried. It turned out her birthparents got married after her birth and adoption. They moved to Hollywood and her birthmother is actually buried in Forest Lawn. Her birthfather is buried in his home town in Missouri. Esther’s blessed me in allowing me to share her story in my book Mansion on a Hill.
Esther moved to a retirement facility in Superior, Nebraska, to be closer to family but we stayed in touch. Her Christmas card arrived just a few weeks before Christmas. I tried to call her on New Year’s Day but didn’t get an answer. Her daughter informed me she went into the hospital that day and passed January 2.
Rest in peace my friend and I know you are in heaven rejoicing with your loving husband, brother, son, and parents. I hope you have a wonderful reunion with your birthparents. They already know they have a very special daughter.