95. Mary Ellen Gambutti: "I Must Have Wandered: An Adopted Air Force Daughter Recalls"

Once Upon A Time...In Adopteeland

Mary Ellen Gambutti is the published author of "I Must Have Wandered: An Adopted Air Force Daughter Recalls". It is a hybrid of lyrical prose, letters, and photos of a woman relinquished at birth in post-World War11 South Carolina. She reflects on the separations of her transient adoptive military family in the idyllic 1950s into the troubled and turbulent '60s. Mary Ellen defines and defies the barriers set by a culture of privacy and secrecy in her father's career as an Air Force intelligence officer and his religious devotion. She becomes aware as an adult that her birth records are inaccessible to her; her genetic heritage scattered. It will be up to her to gather the fragments in this heartfelt story of loss, a quest for identity, discovery, and reunion. https://books2read.com/b/bzVgan

Author https://linktr.ee/SCMel

Mary Ellen Gambutti's lyrical vignettes are rich and diverse, reflecting her post WW11 SC birth, relinquishment, and adoption by native New Yorkers stationed at Shaw Air Force Base, SC, her 1950s and '60s childhood, adopted identity, the special consequences of her military family's transience, and her quest for family of origin. She also writes about her professional gardening career, and her survival of a hemorrhagic stroke. Her personal essays have been published in many literary journals. She and her husband, Phil, live in Lewes, DE with their rescued Chihuahua. I Must Have Wandered is available in e-book and softcover at these digital storefronts. Or, ask at your library or independent bookshop.

Music by Corey Quinn