Reunited after 77 years: Woman meets the daughter she gave up for adoption after she was raped

The Daily Mail ^ | January 2, 2012 | Daily Mail Reporter

[cdga5for4]

For almost a century, Minka Disbrow tried to find out what became of the baby girl she gave up for adoption after being raped as a teenager.

She hoped, but never imagined, that she would see her daughter Betty Jane again. Her only connection to the child was a black and white photograph of the baby bundled up in blankets shortly after she was born.

Then in 2006, Mrs Disbrow, who turned 100 years old at the end of last month, received a call from Brian Lee who turned out to be her grandson. He then asked if she'd like to speak with Betty Jane - whose name was now Ruth Lee.

[cdga5for4]

A friend of mine emailed a recent West Point grads online newsletter but it was formatted such that I couldn't post it as the headline. Not even mentioned in the West Point article is that a product of the rape became a NASA astronaut. (https://www.westpointaog.org/GradNews). It's about the fourth or fifth story down the list now and shows the amazing cover of a new book about the story. I couldn't post this because the headline wouldn't make sense so I posted an older article about the story. The book is titled The Waiting.

[fwdude]

Touching stories like these would be soundly eradicated if abortion had been legal back then.

[cdga5for4]

So true. Devastating to happen to such a young girl yet the result of the rape becomes an astronaut and another son a West Point grad. Incredible.

[crazycatlady]

What a brave lady, what a touching story. It proves that genetics isn’t everything.

[Bigg Red]

Wow! Touching story.

[servo1969]

On July 2, 2006, she received a phone call from a man in Alabama. He started asking the elderly woman about her background. Worried about identity theft, Mrs Disbrow refused to answer any questions. Then, the man asked if she’d like to speak with her daughter Betty Jane - whose name was now Ruth Lee.

Mrs Lee had been raised by a Norwegian pastor and his wife and had gone on to marry and have six children.

One of her son’s is the astronaut Mark Lee, a veteran of four space flights who has circled the world 517 times.

[publius911]

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