During the summer of 2018, I came across a vinyl 78 rpm record hidden within my father’s documents. When I digitized the record, there was my father’s and step-mother’s voice from 1954, sending me their love – it was difficult for me not to shed tears. I had been sent to the States to live with my paternal grandparents to escape kidnapping attempts from my biological mother; this was their way of communicating with me. I can only imagine how I must have felt as a four-year boy living apart from the only family I had known.
1954 audio recording from P. Frank to his son Daniel
1954 audio letter from Johnnie to her stepson Daniel.