Patrick Mcmahon
After 40-odd years, a woman living in Colorado has reunited with her father in New Jersey, just in time for the pair’s first (proper) Father’s Day.
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Jyll Justamond grew up with her grandparents in Palisades Park, N.J. Her family was a little different from most; Justamond grew up thinking her grandparents were her biological parents, and only at 10 did she learn the woman she thought was her half-sister was actually her mother.
Her father wasn’t even in the picture. At least not yet.
Justamond was always curious about her father, and she told CBS Denver that not knowing him left “a void.”
But her search for him turned up nothing for years on end. She didn’t have a lot to work with; her mother would only say that he was Italian, his name was Al, and he worked at a bar called Neary’s, where her mother used to go.
Facebook turned that little bit of information into something very valuable. A page created for Palisades Park led her to the former owner of the bar, who remembered Al Annunziata “within minutes.” Annunziata had been looking for his daughter for decades, too.
The pair finally reunited in their home state of New Jersey last week.
Justamond said she can’t wait to call her father today.
“I get to call my dad and say Happy Father’s Day, and that’ll be the first time I get to do that, and it’ll feel really good.”
