70-year-old sends first Father's Day card of her life
After her mother died of heart complications when Mertes was a baby, she was raised by her great aunt in San Diego. Mertes spent much of her adult life in Howard County, living in the county for 31 years, including 22 in Ellicott City.
She and her husband, Tom Mertes, who worked as a school bus driver in western Howard County, raised their two kids in Ellicott City and celebrated Father's Day with their own kids. But Mertes never knew who her father was. She assumed he was dead.
That all changed last Christmas when her husband gave her an AncestryDNA test kit. Mertes was surprised when a message from a third cousin popped up on her screen, claiming they were related through her father. After lots of research and letter writing, Mertes found out her father was 96-year-old Louis Frank Manly, and lived in Corning, Iowa.
Mertes, who now lives in York, Pennsylvania, made the trip to Iowa three weeks ago, on May 21, and was able to meet her father in person and give him a Father's Day card. She plans to travel there again in September so they can celebrate their birthdays, which are just a few days apart.
'I really feel like we are family now,' Mertes said.
Mertes' son, Brent Mertes, said he is thrilled for his mother.
'The odds of finding your father and finding out that he's still alive at that age is almost unbelievable,' Brent said. 'I think for me, just seeing the joy in my mother … to be able to go see him in person after 70 years is pretty amazing.'
Pam Mertes says she hopes to stay connected with her father and his family despite the distance between them.
'It was very shocking and emotional, and something I had never dreamed of, let alone thought it would happen,' Pam Mertes said. 'It was amazing.'
Have a news tip? Contact Kat Mauser at kmauser@baltsun.com.
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