Life can be full of memories we wish we could forget, moments we wish we could change. And sometimes, we go our whole existence unable to do that.
For nearly 80 years, Bill Cordes has lived with the memory of losing his 4-month-old baby brother after his mother gave the infant up for adoption.
But now, he finally got a chance so few do – a reunion that was decades in the making. One he thought he’d never live to see.
When Bill was 7-years-old, he had been outside holding his young brother in his arms, when a car pulled up.
He said he remembers a woman getting out, and then demanding he hand over the baby, named Bob.
“I ran towards the house,” the 87-year-old said. “I was going to hide him in the closet. They stopped me on the porch and explained what was going on.” The woman was from an adoption agency.
The boys’ mother, Cordes said, was a single mom with 3 children, Bill, Bud and now Bob. But she was unable to financially take care of all of her kids and had to make the hard choice to give Bob up for adoption. Sadly, Bill would later lose his other brother Bud in a car crash.
However, thanks to DNA, the online genealogy site, Ancestry.com and two tenacious granddaughters, the brothers were reunited recently in Bloomsbury, N.J., where they were born. Bill and Bob, who now has the last name Wilson and is 79, spent the reunion hugging and laughing constantly, like they had never been apart.
“They spent a lifetime looking for each other,” said Dana Cordes to NJ.com, Bill’s granddaughter, who along with her sister, Heather, spent 20 years trying to find Bob. After doing a DNA test they managed to locate him and Wilson’s son.
The men’s lives followed similar paths. They both got married, moved across the country and fought in wars. They never stopped hoping to find each other again, though.
During the reunion, the brothers teased each other, making up for the lost time.
Bob joked with Bill, saying, “I’m trying to tell you, that your genes are responsible for my actions over the last 79 years. And I want you to apologize to my wife!”
There were also moments of reflection while talking about the loss of the older brother, Bud. The pair also recognized the work of the grandchildren in helping them reunite.
“I have two of the most beautiful granddaughters a man could ever have,” said Cordes. “They found this man for me.”
“I got him the DNA test for Christmas a couple years back and we had a match right away,” Dana said. But it took a year, and then a second match appeared on the site, for Bob’s son, Rob.
“I messaged him and he messaged me right back,” she said.
Bob said his son came running over to tell him the news.
“He comes storming into the house on Christmas Eve and says ‘We found your brother!’” Bob said.
“That’s pretty much what I did, too,” Dana added. “We said the same thing. It was a Christmas miracle. It really was.”
Bob smiled and added, “My wife doesn’t know it yet, but I think I might move here.”
Watch the brothers’ heartwarming reunion below.
