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He has a new brother, 75 years later By Paul Fattig Medford resident George Campbell recalls a cheerful childhood, the kind that brings the family happily together each Thanksgiving. He loved the people he knew as his parents and they him. They were family. "I had a great childhood," he says. "They were very kind to me." And he didn�t particularly long for a sibling. "I had it too damn good being an only child," says Campbell, who turns 75 on Thanksgiving Day . So did Walnut Creek, Calif., resident Marvin Gilardy. He will be 76 in February. "I had a very happy childhood," Gilardy says. "I really didn�t miss not having any siblings." Still, he acknowledges he always looked for other Gilardys in the telephone books during his travels. "It always disappointed me when I didn�t find any," he says. Campbell, who has long known he had been adopted as a baby, admits he was curious about his biological roots. "I didn�t know any details about that part of my life," he says. Until early fall, when both learned � after three-quarters of a century � that neither was an only child: they are half-brothers. The discovery came after an Internet search by Ann, one of Campbell�s five children, all grown. He and his wife, Voula, have been married 50 years. It seems the brothers had the same father but different mothers. Campbell was born in Long Beach, where he was adopted out at birth. "My folks (who raised him) would never talk about it," he says. "I never knew anything about my mom." Remember, this was 75 years ago. What is commonly talked about today was hushed up in 1925. "I think she was young," he says. "Evidently, he (the biological father) got sidetracked when his wife was pregnant with Marvin. "You see things like that on television all the time now," he adds. "But they didn�t talk about it back then." Besides, the man who raised him had 10 siblings, all in Southern California. Young Campbell had a couple of cousins for childhood chums. "We were very close," George says. After a hitch in the Navy during World War II, Campbell went to college, eventually receiving a master�s degree in education at the University of Oregon. He taught school in Josephine and Jackson counties. His wife is also a retired teacher and continues to work as a substitute teacher in Jackson County. Gilardy, who was reared by his biological parents, completed a year at the University of California at Berkeley before volunteering for the Army during the war. Upon his discharge, the combat veteran went into the trucking business, eventually owning his own trucking firm. He has three grown children. "I had never heard of a missing brother," Gilardy says. "She (Ann) got my son�s name on the computer and contacted him. It came as quite a surprise, but pleasantly so. Everything checked out." For his part, Campbell says he had been initially reluctant to find out if he had any other family out there. "It�s something you don�t take casually," he says. "You really don�t know what you�ll find." The two met for the first time on Sept. 8 in Medford, the day of Campbell�s 50th wedding anniversary. Since then, they�ve been talking frequently on the phone. "When I finally saw George in person, there were nuances like the way he flicked his eyes and tossed his head, that reminded me so much of Dad," Gilardy says of their biological father who died in 1959. "It was amazing. "George has a real nice family," he adds. Campbell is equally impressed with his new big brother. "We�re hoping we can get together for Thanksgiving and my birthday," Campbell says. "But, even if we can�t, it�s nice knowing he�s there." After all, he is family. You can reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.