NEW FOUND FAMILY

He always had it in his possession, but he never felt the need to use it.

For 62 years, Todd Baliman had the key to his adoption, his original sealed birth certificate. It lay in that sealed envelope until his adoptive mother, Mary Conger, died in April of 2020. He just never wanted to hurt his mother.

"I didn't feel I was missing anything," he said, speaking about his family that adopted him.

"I just couldn't live with myself to do that to my mother when she was still alive," he said. "That's the only mom I've known."

The day that she passed, Todd opened the sealed birth certificate. Within five minutes his daughter Maggie had Googled the names on the certificate and hit paydirt. His birth name was Richard Todd Manchester, and he was born in Ord, Nebraska.

Todd was adopted into a family when he was 3 days old. He already had two older sisters and he would eventually have one younger brother, none of them were adopted. Todd's mother had lost two babies prior to the adoption of Todd, and she always told him that he filled a hole in her heart.

In the five minutes of searching, Maggie found obituaries of his birth mother and father with details about his siblings. Although his mother and father had both died, he had an older sister and an older brother still alive.

When he first made contact with his birth sister, Deanna, he assured her that he wasn't looking for money but just wanted to get to know her. According to Baliman, it took a little convincing. Deanna was shocked because she had no idea that he ever existed. Deanna, 65, is just three years older than Todd.

So they sent pictures, texts and had phone conversations. After six to eight months of attempting to arrange a meeting with his new-found sister, it finally happened on the last weekend of January.

Todd was forced to go to the reunion by himself due to family circumstances. He said he was nervous and excited all at the same time. 

Deanna Dzingle came with her husband Larry, daughter Christy and grandchildren.

The connection with his new family members went well and they have plans to meet up this summer to connect with all the family members.