Dear Editor:
Have you ever been in your car, stopped at a stop sign, waiting for a group of kindergarten kids to cross the street? Do they make you wonder what the future holds for them? Do they make you think back to your own days as a little kid in school? Our experiences when we’re wee tiny tots never really leave us. I know this is true, not only because my own childhood memories are so clear, but because I am a licensed Private Investigator, and people come to me all the time looking for various links to those precious childhood years.
Sometimes they’re adopted and looking for birth parents. Sometimes they’re suddenly single at 80 and looking for that sweet-16 sweetheart they last dated in 1938. And sometimes they’re just sitting around thinking about the days when they were in kindergarten, remembering that special friend whose hand they held while crossing the street at a stop sign, and wanting to reconnect with that person.
That’s the case I’m working on now. My client, once one of those little kindergartners who crossed Hudson Avenue in North Bergen, on his way to and from Robert Fulton School in 1941, is now in search of the little girl who was his best friend. Her name was Shirley Spiegel, and because she was such a kind and sweet little girl, she left a lasting impression that still brings a smile to my client’s face.
My little kindergartner client, by the way, turned out to be a pretty amazing adult. Dr. Vincent J. Felitti is now a prominent San Diego physician, who specializes in Preventive Medicine. He is internationally known and highly regarded for his ground breaking work, in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the impact of adverse childhood experiences on people in adulthood.
I’d like nothing better than to be able to see Dr. Felitti and the former Miss Spiegel hold hands while they cross the street, any street, together in 2002, but there’s a problem. We women tend to change our names when we marry, and that’s making it mighty hard for me to find Dr. Felitti’s kindergarten buddy. So I’m reaching out to you for your help. If you know what has become of Miss Shirley Spiegel, please contact me. I can be reached at reddingresearch@cox.net or Redding Research Services, P.O. Box 191015, San Diego, CA 92159-1015.
Help me put two “youngsters” back together again, so they can relive fond memories and introduce each other to the people they’ve grown up to be.
Carol A. Redding
California License PI 16558