This episode of the Voices of The Willows podcast features Carolyn Noble Vagourdes, an adoptee from The Willows Maternity Sanitarium, along with her daughter, Lisa Toner, and her granddaughter, Melanie Gordon. Together, they discuss their recent journey to uncover Carolyn’s biological history.

Carolyn grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and was always aware she was adopted. Although she knew she was born at The Willows in Kansas City, Missouri, early attempts to find information about her biological family were unsuccessful because the records were sealed under Missouri law.

The search was reignited after Melanie read one of KelLee Parr’s books about The Willows that contained updated information regarding the shifting legal landscape for accessing adoption records.

Melanie reached out to a Willows alumni group on Facebook. Within two hours, a member provided Carolyn’s birth name: Ardes Hastings. Lisa, an attorney, managed the complex process of requesting the original birth certificate. Melanie spent considerable time researching family trees on Ancestry.com to identify Carolyn's birth mother, Mary Elizabeth "Betty" Miller.

Melanie located an obituary for Betty’s brother and, through persistent outreach on a business website, connected with a cousin who facilitated contact with Carolyn’s half-brother, Gordon.

Gordon, who was unaware he had a sister, has since established a warm relationship with Carolyn and her family.

Carolyn and her family emphasize that it is never too late to begin a search and encourage others to be "bold and curious.” While they have not pursued information regarding Carolyn’s biological father, the family expresses deep satisfaction with the relationships they have built and the healing this discovery has brought to Carolyn’s life.

Listen to “A Team Effort,” Episode 6 of “Voices of The Willows” to learn more about Carolyn’s journey.

For more Voices of The Willows, visit www.voicesofthewillows.com. To support future episodes, visit VoicesofTheWillows.com/support/.

This episode of “Voices of The Willows” features Jan Koenig, a Search Angel who helps adoptees find their biological families with DNA technology and genealogical research. The conversation between host KelLee Parr and Jan provides a look into the world of Search Angels and the complexities of adoption discovery through The Willows.

Jan’s involvement is deeply personal. His wife gave birth at The Willows in 1968, shortly before the institution closed. This connection sparked his interest in helping others from The Willows family navigate their own histories. He notes that searches involving The Willows are often more successful because the home kept meticulous records, sometimes including non-identifying background information that experienced researchers can decode.

His primary tool is Ancestry DNA, which he recommends because its massive user database provides the most data points for matching. He explains how to identify relationships using centimorgans (cM), allowing him to narrow down potential relatives from a list of thousands. Once Jan can establish a genetic connection, he uses his “detective skills,” searching through obituaries, public records and old newspapers to build family trees and identify the specific common ancestors.

This episode also covers the emotional complexity of reaching out to biological relatives. Jan emphasizes the importance of the first contact in an adoption-related search. The searcher, not the Search Angel, should always make the first contact to avoid trauma or the risk of a third party messing up a one-time opportunity. While many reunions are joyous, Jan acknowledges the risk of negative reactions from birth parents who may have kept their past a secret for decades.

Beyond the closure of finding family, Jan and KelLee highlight the life-saving potential of uncovering medical histories. KelLee shares an anecdote of an adoptee whose discovery of a family history of breast cancer led to proactive medical decisions that ultimately saved her life. Jan encourages anyone hesitant about searching for their biological family to proceed, noting that he has never met anyone who regretted gaining more clarity about their origins.

Jan can be reached at [email protected]. 

Listen to “The Search Angel,” Episode 5 of “Voices of The Willows,” to learn more about Jan’s journey.

For more Voices of The Willows, visit www.voicesofthewillows.com. To support future episodes, visit VoicesofTheWillows.com/support/.

This episode of “Voices of The Willows” features Russ Sifers, a Willows baby born at the sanitarium in 1948. Russ talks with KelLee about his adoption experience and reuniting with two of his biological siblings.

Adopted just two weeks after he was born, Russ was welcomed into a family that already had two adopted children from Kansas City. At 10 years old, Russ was told that he had been adopted. It was not until his early adulthood that he began to wonder where he came from.

When Russ connected with KelLee at an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class, he learned he could obtain his adoption papers. Once he had them, Russ could choose to contact his biological family with the help of Jan Koenig, a Search Angel who helps adoptees locate their birth families. Through Jan’s research, Russ discovered that he had a biological brother and sister, Craig and Carol.

Although Russ initially feared his siblings would reject him, he allowed Jan to call Craig. She left a message explaining the situation, and the rest was history. Russ and Craig were soon on the phone talking for hours, comparing their lives and emailing one another pictures to go alongside their stories.

Russ was careful to note that his experience was an exception, saying that reuniting with your birth family is not always a “Hallmark movie.” Some who were given up for adoption will not be accepted by their birth families, or will not reach out in the first place due to fear.

The three were scheduled to meet in California, but when Carol’s plans fell through, Russ spent the time with Craig and his wife in their neighborhood. Craig’s wife watched as the two brothers shared the same mannerisms, had the same reactions and even walked the same, acting as though they had never been apart.

Russ has never been able to meet Carol in person, but the pair spends plenty of time on FaceTime and emails back and forth. The three siblings plan to meet in Kansas City in the spring, once the weather has warmed up.

Listen to “I Am A Fortunate Son,” Episode 4 of “Voices of The Willows” to learn more about Russ’ journey.

For more Voices of The Willows at VoicesofTheWillows.com or to support future episodes, visit voicesofthewillows.com/support/.

On Episode 3 of Voices of The Willows, KelLee Parr shares the emotional story of his mother’s journey to find her birth parents after being adopted from The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in 1925.

Born on Valentine’s Day, Wanda Keller Parr was adopted into a family with two children, including a boy, who was also adopted from The Willows. Shortly after Wanda joined the family, her adoptive parents had a little girl, creating a family of six. A couple of years later they had another daughter. Wanda and her brother were never treated differently from their siblings. From an early age, they both knew they were adopted, but their entire family treated them the same.

While her brother was never curious about his biological family, Wanda was. After she turned 18, she was given her adoption papers and learned her birth name was Marcia Hendrickson. She began the long journey to finding her biological parents. With only a last name, Wanda scoured phonebooks, trying to find a “Hendrickson.”

After years of searching, Wanda had no luck. In 1990, she gave her adoption papers to KelLee and his sisters, including the results of a Wassermann blood test, where her birth mother’s name was listed–Leona May. They had both a first name and a last name to search.

KelLee combed through state censuses to find anyone with the name Leona May Hendrickson. The process was long, but after reaching Montgomery County, KelLee found an “Ona Hendrickson” living in Havana, Kansas. He suspected this might be the person he was looking for, so he looked for more census records. Finally, he found the confirmation he sought. Ona Hendrickson appeared to be Leona May Hendrickson.

KelLee called the post office in Havana to find the Hendrickson family, but he was redirected to Bus Wade, a local who knew every family that had passed through Havana. After multiple calls, KelLee was introduced to Claude, Leona’s cousin, and learned Leona was living in Doris, California.

Claude said he would reach out and let her know about KelLee, but KelLee thought it was going to be a dead end. However, he soon received a letter from Leona. After KelLee explained who he and his mother were in a return letter, Leona wrote back and shared her phone number.

KelLee called Leona and confirmed that he had found his birth grandmother. But now he had to figure out how to tell his mother.

KelLee visited Wanda at work, and she announced she was going to stop working so she could devote more time to searching for her birth mother. Trying to preserve the surprise, KelLee excused himself and went to tell his dad what he’d discovered. When Wanda got home that evening, KelLee sat with her and revealed everything he had done, including calling Leona and recording their first conversation. With tears in her eyes, Wanda listened to the call. Once the tape ended, Wanda wanted to know more about her mother. KelLee suggested she ask Leona herself because she was expecting their call.

Thirty minutes later, Wanda and Leona were on the phone, talking about all of the time they had apart. Two weeks later, Wanda and KelLee were on a plane to California to meet Leona.

Listen to Episode 3 of “Voices of The Willows” to hear Wanda and Leona’s whole reunification story and find out about Wanda’s biological father.

For more Voices of The Willows, visit www.voicesofthewillows.com. To support future episodes, visit VoicesofTheWillows.com/support/. 

Episode two of “Voices of The Willows” features Patty Brasel, a baby given up for adoption at The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City, Mo. Patty talks with longtime friend and Voices of The Willows podcast host KelLee Parr about her connections to The Willows and her experience reuniting with her parents.

Patty’s adoptive grandmother, Nell McEwen, worked in the front office of The Willows. Nell had grown fond of one of the mothers. When Nell’s daughter, Jean, wanted to adopt a little girl, her grandmother knew just the child.

“I was my grandmother’s choice,” Patty said.

Once she was in her 30s, Patty’s adoptive parents sat with her and told her that, if she wanted, they would do everything in their power to find Patty’s birth mother. She accepted, and after just two phone calls, they were able to locate her birth mother.

When she was contacted, Patty’s birth mother, Lou, said she needed to think through meeting her daughter. After not hearing anything, Patty decided to write a letter introducing herself to her mother. Despite the letter being delivered, Patty again received no response.

Three years later, Patty wrote her second and last letter. After 10 days of silence, Patty called her.

Lou was thrilled to be talking to her. Not only did Patty learn that her parents lived in Wisconsin, but she also had three biological sisters. She was told that the delay in responses was due to her father; he had a hard time with her reaching out because he had accepted that he would never meet Patty.

Their second call was later that same day at 5 p.m. When Patty answered the phone, Lou had already pulled out a map, saying that it was just 500 miles to travel to see Patty.

One Christmas morning after reuniting with her birth family, Patty crafted a poem about Lou. Her love, admiration and connection to her mother flowed out of her and into the words in the poem.

Listen to Finding the Missing Piece, episode two of “Voices of The Willows,” to hear Patty’s poem and learn more about her effort to find her birth family.

For more Voices of The Willows, visit www.voicesofthewillows.com. You can support future episodes of Voices of The Willows at www.voicesofthewillows.com/support.  

Established in 1905, The Willows Maternity Sanitarium was started by Edwin and Cora Mae Haworth out of their home in Kansas City. After learning that a family friend’s daughter was unmarried and pregnant, the couple decided to take her in, care for her during pregnancy and then find a home for the child. From here, The Willows Maternity Sanitarium was born.

“The Willows was established for the unfortunate young women facing social and moral ostracism,” Edwin shared in a 1929 informational brochure.

In 1908, the Haworths moved to 2929 Main Street in a mansion that overlooked downtown Kansas City, and they grew the sanitarium’s reach. Admission was selective, as the Haworths and the nurses wanted to monitor pregnancies as early and closely as possible. This led to the sanitarium being a middle-to-upper-class facility, as they didn’t take in women who didn’t have the finances to stay.

The Willows was privately owned and received no federal funds, grants, or philanthropic donations. The money that supported operations came directly from the women who stayed at The Willows during their pregnancy. After the babies were born, costs were completely covered by The Willows until adoption.

Over The Willows Maternity Sanitarium’s 64 years in operation, approximately 30,000 babies were born.

The philosophy of The Willows was aimed at protecting and preparing young women and their babies from society’s eyes. In the beginning, the hospital was highly secluded. Women were not allowed to leave the sanitarium while pregnant. After Cora Mae’s passing in 1953, her daughter-in-law took over and relaxed the women’s guidelines. They could now travel into town with another resident or with a nurse and visit downtown or the Plaza.

The property had more than just the hospital. Shortly after opening in their new building, the Haworths started a nursing school. These nurses in training would help with taking care of the young women and babies. Behind the sanitarium sat multiple Victorian-style homes, which provided additional housing for women and the nurses. The Willows Maternity Sanitarium closed in 1969 and the building no longer stands. A historical marker now sits near the original location at 2911 Main Street.

For more Voices of The Willows or to support future episodes, visit voicesofthewillows.com/support/.

KelLee Parr introduces the new Voices of The Willows podcast featuring stories from adoptees and birth families from The Willows Maternity Sanitarium in Kansas City, Mo.