Feature Focus: DNA Discoveries

Lea Smith family

Local families share their DNA discoveries

By Lauren Caggiano | Photos provided Family can be biological or chosen. Either way, sometimes there can be surprises that call into question what you’ve known to be true for a long time. That’s the case for five northeast Indiana residents whose discoveries changed their relationships and their lives.

It was another day on the job for Kristen Guthrie, Visit Fort Wayne’s Director of Marketing, when she came across some information that challenged long-held assumptions. “My family research started because of the Genealogy Center here in Fort Wayne,” she said. “It’s the nation’s second-largest public genealogy center. And we promote and market it here at Visit Fort Wayne as a reason people should come to Fort Wayne every day. There are people there at the genealogy center from all around the world who are researching their family histories. And so, I wanted to go through that experience so that I could better promote it.” Guthrie did just that and at the same time her father’s DNA results came back and they didn’t match what Guthrie had found in her research at the Genealogy Center. The man who raised her father, Larry Kubovchick, was not his biological father. Guthrie returned to the library with this new information, and the librarians were able to put some puzzle pieces together. “My dad has twin sisters, and we found out all this information in a matter of minutes,” she said. “We were able to find a phone number for a cousin of my dad’s, and so I called the cousin and talked to her on the phone. And she said, ‘I will call the twin sisters, and I’ll let you know if they’re interested in talking to your dad.’” Turns out they were receptive to the idea, and Kubovchick was able to connect with these relatives for the first time. In the process, he began to look at his childhood through a different lens. “Looking back, I could see where there were a lot of signs (that he wasn’t my father),” he said. “But as a kid, you don’t question. The man who raised me was kind to me. He provided for me, but he was not affectionate. He didn’t get involved in my life. And I just thought that’s the way he is. But maybe he was that way because I wasn’t really his son.” In hindsight, Kubovchick said it’s less about a scandal and more about the norms of the time. His stepdad married his mother when she was pregnant with him. “So when I was born, they just put his name on the birth certificate,” he said. “So I was never adopted — it’s just that my paternity was misrepresented.” In hindsight, Kubovchick said that his parents and anyone who knew the truth are no longer alive. So, to some extent, the findings are less painful than they could be. “I still feel grateful for the life I had,” he said. Lea Smith also owes a surprising discovery to a DNA test. Growing up, she thought she was told she was a first-generation German American but wanted to validate the anecdotes with scientific evidence. A coworker suggested she take a DNA test, and upon getting the results she came across DNA matches. That’s when life changed dramatically. It was a woman with a unique name, not of European descent. “I knew my father had served in Vietnam,” she said. “And my brain started spinning. I remember him telling me that he had two children there — and a lady called his wife.” This reality contrasted with what she was told: that these women had died in a bombing. Still, Smith was open to the idea of exploring this potential genetic match. “We started messaging each other, and she knew my dad’s name and that he was from Indiana,” she said. “She knew about my older siblings from his first wife and where they were born, or where he was based at the time. Plus, we had a DNA match. So we started talking a little bit more, and come to find out the village was bombed. But what my father didn’t know was that they didn’t die at that time.” One sister emigrated to the United States in 1991 and the other still lives in Vietnam. Their father is deceased, which adds another layer of emotion to the story. Speaking of feelings, Smith said she was upset at first that she didn’t know about her halfsisters when her father was alive, but she came to terms with the fact that he didn’t have this information either. However, their shared familial ties brought the once separated sisters together.

“Her husband and her daughter came to Fort Wayne, probably within six to nine months of us connecting, because it was really important to her to see his gravesite,” Smith said about the American sister. “We spent time together,and that’s when I found out that they had moved or left. And (our father) wasn’t lying. So I actually felt blessed to have more siblings.” Connie Hansen found herself in a similar situation. She found out she has two more sisters in California from her father. In retrospect, Hansen said the news wasn’t a huge shock, given her father’s tendencies. But overall, the discovery has been a pleasant experience. Hansen connected with one of the sisters, Carla, and the other has kept her distance from the family.

“I’m happy to have another sister,” she said. “There were five of us growing up. So now we know there are seven, and possibly more. Who knows?” Hansen said she and Carla are making up for lost time, on the phone, via text, and over Zoom. However, she also acknowledges that such findings can be hard for some people to process. With that in mind, she offers the following advice: “You must go into this with an open mind, and you certainly cannot fault a sibling. I mean, who asked to be born? So, I would just say that if you do have a problem with (the truth), then get some professional help.” Like Hansen, Kathy’s life changed when she made a painful discovery through 23andMe. The man she knew as her biological father was not related. It turns out that her real father had no idea she existed, and he too felt betrayed by Kathy’s mother. She learned all of this when she reconnected with him in October 2020. Kathy described the call as awkward, but it was something she needed to do for her mental health. “He was very kind,” she said. “My now stepmom was also on that call, and I got to talk to her a little bit. Everybody was very welcoming and very open. We talked about a lot of stuff and how he wished that he would have known because he had no idea.” Years later, the discovery still weighs heavily on her and affects her family dynamics. Yet, it’s also helped her come to an important conclusion. “I have learned to pick and choose my family; the ones that are supportive and loving and caring,” she said. “And those are the people that I hold onto, and the negative people that want to tear you down and step on you are the ones that I removed from my life. So it’s been one of the hardest, but best things that’s ever happened to me.” a

Maureen Scanlon Nuzzi, Larry Kubovchick, Paula Scanlon Cichowicz

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