Year-long search leads to new family

“You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them.” This quote, by noted human rights activist and theologian Desmond Tutu is the perfect summation of DeVonna Allison’s year-long search for a father and family that she had never met.

Beginning in 1998 with only a partial name of her father she began the long process of trying to find the other half of her family. She began her search in Oregon, thinking that was his home state, but without his full name, her searches continued to lead her nowhere.

It wasn’t until the website Ancestry began to offer DNA testing that she finally found what she was looking for. Going into the process she had no expectations. Allison explains, “I knew that there was a strong possibility that I would be an unpleasant surprise to my siblings and even my father if I were to meet him. I didn’t know if he knew if I existed. I didn’t know if my siblings knew anything about me.” To her surprise, a cousin matched with her on the site and reached out to Allison.

She first spoke with her sister LaVeda Miles. Miles says she was skeptical at first. “We are living in a day and time where people steal your identity.”

After talking for an hour and a half, Miles skepticism gave way to belief. Sister Maurita Stark was shocked, but says their father once mentioned the possibility of having another child. At the time, she brushed it off as a story due to the early symptoms of dementia.

Today, the three sisters, along with their two brothers, John Skinner and Milton Skinner are spending time getting to know one another, they share tales of growing up in their respective lives, talk of kids and grandkids, and relishing in having new family. Author Alex Haley once said, “In every conceivable manner, the family is the link to our past, the bridge to our future.”

For Allison and her new found family, they have found a link to a past that was unknown and a bridge to a future full of bright possibilities and endless joy.