A Discussion With: Carolyn Hunt

Carolyn Hunt


I know her better as Mom.

Oliver- Okay, Mom, something I wanted to talk about, Grandma, your mom, was adopted right?

Carolyn- Yes she was.

O- Was there ever an attempt to find out who her biological parents were?

C- Your grandmother did look into it, after her mother, my grandmother died

O- Her adoptive mother.

C- Yes. Well, you weren’t here that one Thanksgiving, but she was up here and she went on and on about how her mother was such a liar. She would ask her mother questions about where they got her and she would say she didn’t know or she wouldn’t tell her.

O- So Grandma had no idea.

C- Right. And then, after her mother died she…I don’t know if she went to an attorney, but she found out her birth mother’s name and where she was from.

O- Where was she from?

C- Oklahoma, but I think her mother had her out here. At the time there were homes for unwed mothers and stuff and they would fabricate. There was an article in the Kansas City Star about them if you’re looking to research it.

O- How long ago was the article?

C- Oh I don’t know, a long time ago.

O- Eighties? Nineties? Seventies?

C- Probably nineties. But these homes for unwed mothers would fabricate information that might not even be true. They would make stuff up and lie to adoptive parents. They’d tell them any old thing to get those kids adopted. So anything she would tell us was all just speculation.
   I didn’t even know she was adopted until I was in high school. She may have known more than she would tell us, but…you know, it was difficult for her. Like in school we’d have to do family trees and… she just didn’t have it, she didn’t know, and she would try to guess at her nationality.

O- So it’s a missing piece, genetically.

C- Oh yeah, absolutely, and you make up stories to go along with it. And it’s been so long now, it’s been 85* years, so trying to find anything out would be impossible. If her birth mother was sent away, her immediate family might not even know if there was a child.

O- What was her birth mother’s name?

C- Last name was Arnold. She said on her birth certificate her name was Audrey, so she was born Audrey Arnold.

O- I’m assuming Arnold is an English name.

C- Yes it is.

O- What was your reaction when you found out?

C-Well I was shocked. Then everything started falling into place. Like when we’d talk about nationality she’d say, “Oh, we’re just a hodge-podge and a little bit of everything.” And the way I found out, there was some argument or some drama and my grandma said, “Well, you know your mother’s adopted right?” and I was just, “umm…no, I didn’t know that.” It wasn’t something that was discussed.

*My grandmother, who my family and I had known as Beatrice Howard, died in 2004 at the age of 84, and any records would actually have to date back about 90 years.