EDITOR’S NOTE: In this article, the Cobbs Creek resident tells the extraordinary story of her husband’s great discovery and how DNA tests united brothers who grew up never knowing each other.

This is a story of a young girl and the events in her young life that changed so much for so many.

Rosamond Riggins lived with her mother Ethel in Norfolk, a divorced working mom. Rosamond and her brother George were latchkey kids, sometimes without adult supervision. In 1930, Ethel’s 63-year-old father from Baltimore was staying with them looking for a job.

While Ethel worked, her father was home with the children. One afternoon he took advantage of his then 14-year-old granddaughter, Rosamond. The details are sketchy, but she became pregnant. The story goes that she went to an unwed mothers’ home until the baby, a boy, was born on Dec. 31, 1931. After her son was born, they returned home and from there the baby was given away. No record of the birth or birth certificate was ever filed. Rosamond was told the family that adopted him could not have children. How devastating it was for her, not knowing where her son was or who he was with. This haunted her for the rest of her life.

During the years to follow she married her husband, Melvin Lloyd “Snookie” Callis. They lived in Baltimore where their son, Skip, was born. After his birth she was busy being a new mother and taking care of the medical procedures he needed. Her husband was in the Merchant Marine and was at sea, often for months at a time. Her aunt Hilda was a great help to Rosie during the early days with her son. The stress of that time was too much for her and she was hospitalized for her nerves. They lived in Baltimore until Skip was in the fifth grade, then moved to Gwynn’s Island, Snookie’s homeplace, where Rosamond also had relatives nearby.

When Skip questioned why his mom got so sick, his dad told him he had something to tell him, but he never did. There was one clue on Skip’s birth certificate in a box that read she had another birth, “stillborn.” Out of respect Skip never asked any questions. About three years before she died, the story surfaced that she had been keeping inside, and it flowed. Not only did she tell us about the baby, but also how she was worried of being arrested because she lied on Skip’s birth certificate about the child being dead. We now knew the reason for her illness and tried to find her lost boy. With no paper trail it was impossible.

In November 2020 we got a letter from Christina Smith saying she had made a DNA tree on Ancestry.com to find Ken’s biological family, and that Skip was a probable match. After getting in touch with her we decided to test Skip’s DNA and in March 2021 received the email that said they were an exceedingly high match, most possibly brothers.
Skip had found his long-lost brother, 89-year-old Ken Lee Galloway. It was a miracle that Ken, who was 89, and Skip, who was 77, had lived long enough to find each other. The first phone call was unreal. They talked and laughed as if they had known each other for years.

Ken was told that he was born in Norfolk, that his mother had money and that his father was in the Navy. His adopted mother, Elsie, married Lee Snyder, who was in the Navy. Elsie left Lee, and moved to Alabama, then to Pennsylvania. When Ken was eight, Elsie married Eugene Galloway who never adopted Ken, but used Galloway as Ken’s surname. Ken remembers how kind his grandmother Julia Rockstall was, and how safe he felt with her.

Ken joined and retired from the Air Force, even without a birth certificate. He married Edna Shivley and had three children, Debbie, David and Will. Ken taught and retired from JROTC at Rutherford High School. During his time in the Air Force, they enjoyed life and traveled until she became ill and passed away in 2020. Ken lives beside his daughter Debbie and does a great job taking care of his home and himself.

Ken didn’t share all his life’s story with his children or grandchildren until Chrissie and her husband Scott Smith adopted their second child at 13. Ken started talking more about his story, how he was treated, and questions he had about finding his biological roots. Ken had been looking for years when he took a DNA test via Ancestry. With Chrissie’s help, DNA matches were traced to matching cousins, then Chrissie started finding common ancestors among the cousins and narrowing down possible matches of the right age, in the right area, to be Ken’s biological parent(s); and that led to Rosamond and Skip.

A few weekends ago, Skip and our son Jay went to Panama City, Florida, to meet Ken, his daughter Debbie, and granddaughter Chrissie. The meeting was hard, emotional and enlightening. The family resemblance is uncanny. Their demeanor and sense of humor are alike. They spent a lot of time together going over family stories and looking at pictures Skip had taken with him. Ken took a picture of his mother, Rosamond, and immediately found it a frame.

Rosamond’s boys have found each other and bonded. This bond was 77 years in the making! She can rest now knowing from their first hug and Chrissie’s “Hey, Uncle Skip” that they are family. With a new group full of nieces and nephews, Ken and Skip have finally brought Rosie’s family together.