Nearly 6 decades after an American couple adopted a Greek woman, she finally found her roots in her home country. The story of how she came to be an adoptee, however, was something she never expected.
Most of her life, Linda Carol Trotter, nee Forrest, lived in Texas. She grew up in Houston before moving to Franklin, Tennessee. Throughout her life, she knew she had been adopted from Greece in the 1950s.
She and her adoptive parents knew she was found in Greece, and nobody knew who her parents were. Authorities told her parents that Trotter’s mother had d!ed during childbirth.
Yet, when Trotter was 59, she received an email to say that her biological mother was still alive and had never forgotten her. Trotter was shocked and knew she wanted to meet her mother immediately.
How Did Trotter Grow Up?
Trotter was brought up in America as an only child. She admitted that her parents were precisely the kind of parents that all children deserved and that she loved them very much. She never wanted for anything and never felt a particular affinity with Greece.
She soon found that her adoption papers from the orphanage she lived at in Greece held the answers to all her questions
A proxy for her parents facilitated Trotter’s adoption, and when she arrived in the US, nobody came to check whether or not she was alright. Fortunately, she was more than okay and lived a happy life.
However, when Trotter entered her late fifties, being an only child and with most of her elder relatives dead, she felt it was time to find her roots. She began searching for her origins with the help of her Greek-speaking friend.
She soon found that her adoption papers from the orphanage she lived at in Greece held the answers to all her questions. The documents confirmed that she was Eftychia Noula, daughter of Harikleia Noula, and had resided in Stranoma in western Greece before coming to America.
How Did Trotter Find Her Mom?
Trotter discovered who she really was and looked for her mother after getting in touch with a number of organizations. A few months later, she received an email informing her that her mother had not forgotten her and was still alive.
Trotter started crying, but as she read on, she learned how she had ended up as an orphan. The email verified that Noula had spent her entire life believing falsehoods from other people regarding her daughter’s disappearance, just like Trotter.
In fact, Noula had gotten pregnant when she was 19, and her grandfather had asked a family friend to bring them both to Athens when Trotter was one month old. There, he informed Noula that her infant would be placed in an institution until she could find a reliable job. But Trotter was soon abandoned to an orphanage.
Soon after Trotter learned of her life story, she confirmed that she wanted to meet her mother. A letter was sent to Noula in Greece. The village president arrived at Noula’s home when she was 80 and declared:
“Harikleia, you’ve won the lottery.”
Noula said she didn’t even play, but the village president told her she had won the best prize and that her lost daughter was looking for her. Noula fainted at the news, but when she came around, she asked to speak to Trotter.
The pair had a phone call, during which Noula’s only question was when her daughter would travel to Greece to see her. Trotter and her husband had a Greece trip booked later that year, but Trotter knew she had to go sooner.
A week after the phone call, Trotter and her daughter touched down on Greek soil. They were greeted with much celebration and love. As the crowd gathered at the airport broke open, Trotter saw her mother standing there. She gushed:
“There was a short little lady with this huge bouquet of flowers. My mom. She shoved it at me — then we both cried.”
It took Trotter a week in Greece to get to know her mother and family and she has returned often to visit. She has bought property there, and her cousin said she has roots in her hometown. What a heartwarming tale of love!
