Woman meets biological mother for first time at graduation

The mother, Audrey Kay Kneen of Artesian, S.D., her sister, Diana Jerke of Mitchell, S.D., and their three teenage children attended the commencement exercises. They waited until the ceremonies were over and the large crowd had gathered on the lawn in front of the Armstrong Building to gingerly approach Christina and introduce themselves.

By listening and watching as Christina’s name was announced and she went through the graduation process, they recognized her.

Everyone admitted that the initial exchange of glances was a dramatic experience. “It was pretty amazing to see her for the first time,” Christina said. “A lot of things happened this weekend.”

With the full blessing of her adoptive parents, Calvin and Verle Augustine, it was Christina who initiated the contact. Christina said she has “always known” that she was adopted, and she went through the courts to see if she could locate her birth mother.

“After I got the records opened, I learned my mother’s name when I was born and her sister’s name. It turns out that Diane, who is older, was already married so her name is still the same as it was 23 years ago and that she still lives at Mitchell. That made it pretty easy to catch up with her. I found her address and telephone number over the Internet.”

Christina mailed the first letter to Diana on Oct. 7. She introduced herself and said she’d be interested in making contact with her mother.

The two exchanged letters and e-mails for several times before Diana shared Christina’s question with Audrey.

The first contact between mother and daughter was an e-mail that Audrey sent on April 7, which was Christina’s 23rd birthday. Since then, the two have been exchanging e-mails several times a week.

Christina sent both her mother and her aunt graduation announcements. Audrey said one of the most difficult tasks are she prepared for the trip to Chadron was breaking the news to her 15-year-old daughter Jessica that she had an older half sister.

Audrey said her husband Art, who was busy farming this weekend and didn’t make the trip, had known for years that she had given up a baby for adoption before they met, but she had never told their daughter.

Diana said she waited until Jessica knew the story before she told her children, Dean and Melanie, that they had a cousin in Rapid City.

Christina, who was 6 1/2 months old when she was adopted, said she thought graduation would be a good place to meet since it was “kind of neutral ground.”

The Augustines had arranged for a reception in Christina’s honor in the Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center, where approximately 40 friends and family members gathered along with the visitors from eastern South Dakota.

Not a lot of chit-chat took place there between the Augustines and Christina’s “new family” there. But Christina said everyone opened up later when both parties returned to a Chadron motel, where the Augustines had rented several rooms for their family as well as two for Audrey, Diana and their children.

“The biggest thing we had to overcome was explaining everything to the other family members who were there,” said Christina, an art education major. “Everyone seemed to take it in stride. After a while, we all really hit it off. They were still talking when I left to go to a friend’s reception. I don’t think they even missed me.”

Christina added that she couldn’t have had better adoptive parents. “Dad told me that when it comes to family, the more the merrier. For a long time, my folks have wanted to tell her (Audrey) thanks for having me.”

When asked if another get-together is planned, Christina said it will probably happen this summer. “They tell me I should go to their end of the state this time.”