January 3, 2012 10:22 AM
Mother united with birth child after 77 years
Mom reunites with biological child 77 years laterSAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) - For most of her 100 years, Minka Disbrow tried to find out what became of the precious baby girl she gave up for adoption after being raped as a teen.
She hoped, but never imagined, she'd see her Betty Jane again.
The cruel act of violence bore in Disbrow an enduring love for the child. She kept a black and white photograph of the baby bundled in blankets and tucked inside a basket.
It was the last she saw of the girl -- until the phone rang in her California apartment in 2006 with the voice of an Alabama man and a story she could have only dreamed.
Disbrow, the daughter of Dutch immigrants, weathered a harsh childhood milking cows on South Dakota dairy farms. Her stepfather thought high school was for city kids who had nothing else to do. She finished eighth grade in a country schoolhouse with just one teacher and worked long hours at the dairy.
On a summer day in 1928 while picnicking with girls from a sewing class, Disbrow and her friend Elizabeth were jumped by three men as they went for a walk in their long dresses.
Both were raped.
"We didn't know what to do. We didn't know what to say. So when we went back, nothing was said," Disbrow recalled.
Months passed. Her body began to change.
Disbrow, who had been told babies were brought by storks, didn't know what was happening.
Her mother and stepfather sent her to a Lutheran home for pregnant girls. At 17, she gave birth to a blond-haired baby with a deep dimple in her chin and named her Betty Jane.
In her heart, Disbrow longed to keep her. But her head and her mother told her she couldn't bring an infant back to the farm.
Read more at USA Today
Posted in Pro-Life Issues | Permalink
Comments
What an amazing story! I love how God answers prayers.
Posted by: Bess | January 3, 2012 1:12 PM
She may or may not read this, but I'd like to thank this dear lady for her courage and her gift of life to an innocent child.
A great illustration of overcoming evil with good. God bless her and her daughter.
Posted by: Marie | January 3, 2012 2:13 PM
Folks here are calling this Gods blessing! How? The 3 rapist men are free and God has done nothing to ever punish them. Her child was forcefully ripped from her and raised by someone else and kept from her for over 77 years. God not only had this woman violated, blessed the rapist men, he kept this womans baby from her for over 77 years. OH and the comment about giving life to a innocent child..........another pro life lunatic who does not know how to mind her own business.
Posted by: Jane Doe | January 3, 2012 9:42 PM
I don't know, "Jane" - I'm reading a story with multiple happy endings. Why don't you ask the daughter, who led a rich. fulfilling life if she wishes her mother had aborted her? Or how about her children and their spouses and children, their coworkers, teachers and friends? Not to mention the adoptive parents.
This is the problem with pagans. You don't understand the powerful redeeming work of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. This base and brutal act, which could have led in today's post-Roe world , to another base and brutal act - the killing of a baby by a mother - instead lead to abundant life and joy and creativity!
I'd say it's not pro-lifers who are lunatics, but people like you who can't see the power of life, the joy and potential all around us to allow God to take something terrible and make something full of promise and hope for those who will allow Him.
But thanks for stopping by :)
Posted by: Barbara | January 3, 2012 11:01 PM
Thanks for saying what I thought, Barbara.
I'd like to add, how does Jane Doe know that God never punished the rapists? She's assuming a lot.
Jane Doe needs to uncover her eyes and her ears and discover the good in life. This is a woman who lives life looking at only the worst and never the best.
Posted by: Sue from Buffalo | January 3, 2012 11:14 PM
What a wonderful story , I have a wonderful half sister &brother neices and nephews because their Grandma did not abort after a rape at 16 ,70 some years ago...I talked with her at a graduation party the year before she died and she told me what a blessing it had all turned out to be ,that she felt her whole life was a blessing from God although going through it at the time , it seemed hard.
Posted by: Karen Jones | January 4, 2012 11:39 AM
How do we know these men were blessed? They could have walked further down the road and been hit by a car. We do not know what their path was. we only know what this wonderful woman and her child's path was. And that is what matters. I am happy to read this beautiful story. My mother was raped as a teen and I was born from that crime. I often think of the man that attacked her, did he rape other girls? Did he regret his actions? From what I understand he knew my mother before he attacked her. I wonder if he knew she had a child. But really none of that matters. What matters is this woman choose life and then her daughter had 6 amazing children. Hmmm. Just like I do. What a incredible story. Thanks Mrs C for sharing it. It has blessed my day!
Ouida Gabriel
Posted by: Ouida Gabriel | January 5, 2012 8:25 AM
Ouida - Thank you so much for sharing your own story of Christ's redeeming power. Although we've never met, we've known each other for a long time but now I feel I know you even better.
Love,
barbara
Posted by: Barbara | January 5, 2012 9:56 AM
