Dixon Handshaw believed he was an only child for most of his life. But decades after being adopted, the 75-year-old learned he had a handful of siblings, whom he met just in time for Christmas.
Over the weekend, Handshaw — who lives in North Carolina — traveled to Rochester, New York, where she met some of her half-siblings before the family Christmas party.
“My whole life I dreamed of having brothers somewhere,” Handshaw confessed to CNN affiliate WHAM, which recorded the brothers’ first meeting at the airport on Friday. “This is my Christmas miracle.”
On Saturday, Handshaw met more than 50 family members he didn’t know existed until earlier this year, he told CNN on Tuesday. The gathering, which included cousins and their children, was a welcome surprise for Handshaw, who was his adoptive parents’ only child and has no children of his own.
“I’ve never met anyone who shares my DNA,” Handshaw said. But as soon as he met his family, it immediately clicked. “It was wonderful,” he added. “I have never felt as much unconditional love as I did from my new family.”
Born in Buffalo, New York, in 1949, Handshaw was adopted at three months old and had a happy childhood, he recalled, adding that his parents were honest about his adoption.
“I always wanted to meet them [aos familiares biológicos]but New York State sealed pre-adoption birth certificates, and it was impossible to find out,” Handshaw said.
In 2020, original birth certificates were opened to adopted New Yorkers following the passage of a 2019 law.
Handshaw received his original birth certificate in August this year. It was then that he learned the name of his biological father: Robert “Bud” Romig.
“The first thing I did when I found out my dad’s name was Google him and I came across his obituary,” Handshaw revealed. “Not only was I shocked to see that I looked exactly like him, but I knew immediately that I had all these brothers and a sister.”
Handshaw doesn’t know why he was given up for adoption, but he does know that his father was a graduate student in the physics department at Cornell University. The mother was the secretary of the department.
The biological mother had no more children, as Handshaw discovered, who had always wondered if her father had any children.
After Handshaw’s birth, Romig settled in Rochester with a woman who had three children. Romig adopted the three boys. The couple went on to have five children – four boys and one girl. Handshaw contacted Gary Romig, one of his father’s adopted sons.
“I chose to contact Gary because I knew he was adopted and so was I, so I thought he would be sensitive to my situation,” Handshaw said.
Gary was having lunch at work when he received the first call from Handshaw, according to CNN affiliate WHAM.
“I received a phone call and I didn’t recognize the number. I almost never answer the phone if I don’t recognize the number. But, for some reason, I answered it”, recalls Romig. “And he said, ‘Hi, my name is Dixon. Is that Gary Romig? I said, ‘I am.’ And he said, ‘I’m your brother,’ and I was like, ‘What?’”
Courtesy of Jeffrey Romig
Handshaw sent a photo of himself to Romig, who immediately recognized his stepfather’s face. “I sent him a photo and (Gary) sent it to all his brothers,” Handshaw says. “They said, ‘It’s the dad!’” Gary kept the brothers in suspense for two and a half hours until he finally said, ‘It’s your new brother.'”
Although Handshaw won’t be spending Christmas Day with his new family, he plans to spend more time with them in the near future.
“We’re going camping together this summer,” he reveals, adding that he and his brothers already have a joint group chat. “We talk every day,” he said.
Right now, Handshaw and his brothers are making up for lost time, believing that it’s better late than never.
“I had fantastic adoptive parents. They were wonderful. I love them and I miss them, but I always wanted brothers and now I have them,” Handshaw told CNN. “I thought one or two would be great. I have six!”
