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Show Father and daughter reunited after 14 years ... n jr"'",, - f "-'rt V-- , -5 r - i ' jiN j I ' " I ' ! ? -- -tt " - - r " 1 i ' . I i L-i .4 : i Lj A pleasant Grove father is enjoying en-joying getting reacquainted with his daughter who has just moved from Hood River, Oregon to stay with him for a while. The two hadn't seen each other for 14 years. Jim Cummings said that he had gone away on a construction job and returned to find the children's mother had moved out of state with his son, Todd, and daughter, Laura. He tried to locate them but when he could not he decided to wait and see if his children would contact him when they were old enough. Laura, now 18, had not lived with her mother for several years, but had stayed with an uncle and then was placed in a foster home. Laura had lived with Bruce and Cathy Justin, her foster parents, for two and one-half years. I As she got older, Laura began to wonder about her father, but her mother, who now lives in California, would not tell her anything about him. However, her mother did tell Laura that her father was part Blackfoot Indian. With that information, in-formation, Laura began an attempt to verify the Indian ancestry in hopes of getting scholarship money i for college. i A caseworker then called Laura's , mother in the effort to verify the i ancestry. The mother told the i caseworker the name of Laura's father but asked her not to tell Laura. The caseworker, feeling it was in Laura's best interest to know this information, relayed the name anyway. Laura's mother had also told the caseworker that perhaps Laura's grandfather might still live in the Salt Lake City area. A phone call to the grandfather revealed that he thought his son, Jim, was living in the Lindon area. Armed with this information, Cathy Justin was able to reach Jim by getting his telephone number through Information. She had waited until Laura was home from school, and when she was sure she had the right person she turned the phone over to Laura. This was one year ago. Jim, having talked to his daughter, decided he could not wait to see her and began the trip from Lindon to Hood River. Laura was very excited that her father was coming to see her. She was a little bit scared, too. They had a wonderful reunion and Laura learned all about her father and what had happened in the intervening in-tervening years. Laura arrived in Pleasant Grove a few days ago and is enjoying her stay with her father and her stepmother step-mother and the stepsisters and brothers. Jim and his family had moved to Pleasant Grove from Lindon in the meantime. Laura graduated from Hood River Jim Cummings, left, and his daughter, Laura, are reunited after 14 years apart. High School in June. She plans to stay here for about one year. She would like to go to college. Her father is also attending college now. Laura and Jim both said they had a lot of catching up to do but they are enjoying every minute of it. For a girl who once had no one she could call "Dad," Laura now has two, her foster father in Hood River and Jim. |