PEMBROKE — Teresa Ann Huff Quimby’s birthday wish to find the Robeson County family she lost almost 50 years ago came true this past weekend.
Quimby, who turned 50 in April, and her mother, Sandy Huff, attempted to end a lifelong mystery surrounding Teresa’s family, who gave her up for adoption in 1971. They decided that the weekend powwow would be the right place at the right time.
Before the Florida residents made it to the Dance of the Spring Moon Powwow on Saturday afternoon, they had their answer. Just hours after their story was posted to The Robesonian’s website, they got the call they were hoping for.
Teresa was told she had two brothers based on information provided by the social worker who placed her. That scrap of information proved true, but there was a bonus of two additional half-sisters. There might be another half-brother too.
There were also aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews and more hugs than she could count at dinner at Aunt Maudella Locklear’s house.
In an interview Tuesday, Teresa said,“I did not expect to find the whole family. I wish we had thought to contact The Robesonian 20 years ago. I feel lighter, as if it was weighing me down.”
Sandy, who with her husband adopted Teresa while they were earning advanced degrees at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said she was catching up on her sleep after the long trip and an exciting weekend in Pembroke.
“We had a good time,” she said. “At the powwow, we walked around, and everyone we talked to had read the article in The Robesonian.”
Sandy and Teresa had just left the Museum of the Southeast American Indian on the campus of The University of North Carolina at Pembroke when they got the all-important phone call. They met brother Kenneth “JimDay” Burns, half-sister Glenda Jones, cousin Thomas Burns and his partner Susan Baker at McDonald’s, located across from the university.
“In the parking lot, I made a beeline to my brother, JimDay,” Teresa said of her older brother. “I had dreamed about him, and realized he was the face in my dream.
“It felt like we had never been separated,” she said of the meeting that lasted several hours. “He was raised by Aunt Maudella. My older brother Tony is deceased.”
Teresa’s mother and father also are deceased. Her father died on Teresa’s birthday in 2013, but as one of 11 children, he left a lot of family behind for his daughter. Teresa also discovered her parents’ names: Dorothy Burns and Leo Kenneth Jones.
“At dinner, it was like, ‘Here comes another aunt,’” Teresa said. “They all said, ‘You look just like your mama.’”
“They said I laugh just like my mother,” she said. “They had pictures of my parents.”
There was one more photo tied to this story that is nearly unbelievable. Another phone call they received came from Wanda Miller, the daughter of her now deceased foster parents.
Miller explained: “I was a teenager when Teresa came to us. My mom always had photos made of the children when they came to us. I knew Teresa well, and I recognized her instantly. We loved that little girl and were sad to see her leave us.”
“We met Sunday night, and Wanda showed me a photo of me as a baby, the same photo that was given to my adoptive parents,” Teresa said. “On the back of Wanda’s photo was my birth name — ‘Teresa Burns.’ That photo was the link that cemented my identity .”
At home, Sandy is entering all the names and photos in a genealogy software program, “It’s the only way we’ll be able to keep all the relatives straight,” she laughed. “We also found out that Teresa and her daughter Kira might be eligible for membership in the Lumbee Tribe”.
Teresa is still sorting it out, but is making plans to attend Lumbee Homecoming this summer.
Scott Bigelow can be reached at 910-644-4497 or [email protected].
