N.J. man visits Prineville to meet aunt he never knew

On Wednesday morning, a New Jersey man and his wife sat on the couch of his aunt’s Prineville home, looking at old family photos. Just a few months ago, they knew nothing of their family ties — or that each other even existed.

“I was very shocked — my goodness, things like this just don’t happen,” said Prineville resident Charleene Harmon.

The story of how these strangers came to know each other as family begins 71 years ago, after a World War II tragedy. It includes a relentless, decades-long search for answers — and of course, it ends on that couch in Prineville.

Although, these strangers-no-more don’t put it that way.

“It’s a new beginning, and a new family,” Harmon said.

More than seven decades into his life, Peter Pine of New Jersey is meeting his aunt for the first time, part of a string of first-time family “reunions.”

“It’s been a phenomenal experience,” Pine said.

Pine said he knew from an early age he was adopted, but it wasn’t until he was a teenager that he got curious. He learned he was entitled to free college tuition because his biological father was a veteran who died in war.

Born in 1944 in New Jersey, his birth name was James Michael Harmon. He learned his mother gave him up for adoption shortly after her husband — Pine’s father — was killed in World War II.

“He was a turret gunner on a bomb crew and had been shot down on a bombing mission coming back from Germany,” Pine said.

With that information, Pine said he searched for answers, but hit roadblocks at every turn.

His adoption agency did not easily give out information, and what they would share was not cheap. He also learned much of his father’s military records had been destroyed in a fire.

So finally he turned to the Internet, typing in the little information he knew about his father. It eventually led him to his aunt in Prineville.

“It was just one stone after the other coming up up-turned,” Pine said.

The rest is history — and a surprise: No one alive in the Harmon family knew Pine existed.

“When we gave each other a hug, it was just like, ‘Oh I have another relative!’ And it’s very neat,” Harmon said.

After discovering his aunt in July, Pine and his wife Judy started a journey in April that’s taking them across the U.S.

“Let’s see, Nevada, Montana, California, Oregon,” Pine said, ticking off the places he’s met relatives. “I’ve met 13 of my cousins, my sister, aunt and uncle.”

Making up for lost time, and reminding everyone it’s never too late to discover lost roots.

Pine plans on traveling to Portland next to meet more family members for the first time.

He believes his mother may have given him up because she had two other children and no means to support him after his father died in the war.