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Austintown native finds brother in time for Christmas
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Liberty's Janice Fentress (left) was surprised to find out she had a younger brother, Larry Restivo, and that Christine Kralka-Christmas was no longer her only sibling. The sisters bought Restivo a first Christmas ornament in remembrance of the occasion.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Austintown's Christine Kralka-Christmas (left), brother, Larry Restivo, and sister, Janice Fentress, met each other for the first time, in November. T
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Hubbard resident Larry Restivo (seated) is celebrating his first Christmas with sisters Janice Fentress (left), of Liberty, and Christine Kralka-Christmas, of Austintown. He found his sisters through Facebook.
Janice Budd-Fentress will be spending the Christmas holiday this year with her children, mother, sister and the 51-year-old baby brother she never knew she had.
For siblings Budd-Fentress of Hubbard, Chris Christmas of Austintown, and Larry Restivo of Hubbard, the path to a family Christmas celebration this year started in 1959 and wound through adoption, years of separation, a mind-altering accident and eventually a Facebook reunion.
Restivo had always known he had been adopted as a baby, but, being the only child to loving adoptive parents, he did not have the desire to search for his birth parents. That desire changed a few years ago after both of his adoptive parents had died.
“You know, when you are adopted, there are a lot of things out there about your life. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered. There is just a need to know,” Restivo said.
Restivo’s adoptive mother placed all papers pertinent to his adoption with an attorney in case he should need them after her death, but those papers were destroyed in a fire.
Restivo then requested his birth certificate and combed the phone book and Internet.
The Internet search eventually led to the Facebook page of Budd-Fentress, who had recently moved back to the Youngstown area and married. The first message from Restivo took Budd-Fentress somewhat by surprise. He simply congratulated her on her marriage then told her he thought she might be his older sister.
Budd-Fentress said she didn’t take the message seriously, but eventually asked her mother about the possibility.
The problem, she said, is that her mother has been left with an impaired memory after a car accident in 1980 and cannot remember periods of time, including the year Restivo was born.
Budd-Fentress said she looked into the matter and realized that her parents divorced and eventually remarried, but her mother gave birth to Restivo during that separation.
Budd-Fentress, Restivo and Christmas, the sister with whom Budd-Fentress was raised, planned to meet shortly after the connection was made.
“When he walked in, we all knew who he was. He definitely looks like us; there is no doubt about it,” she said. “I was floored and excited all at the same time. It’s incredible to be 55 years old and find out you have a little brother you didn’t know existed.”
Now the three siblings are hoping to spend time getting to know one another, but taking it easy because of their mother’s delicate memory. All three agree that they are just happy to know one another and live in such close proximity.
“I am excited. How could you not be excited to know you have a little brother? The circumstances are different, but how could you not be excited?” Christmas said. “We have lots of new good memories to build now.”
The memory building will start with a Christmas celebration this year as the family gathers at Christmas’ home to celebrate the holiday. Restivo said it is a welcome holiday for him being the only child with both his adoptive parents now deceased.
“I am very happy, and it’s something I have always wanted. Being an only child is somewhat of a lonely existence,” he said. “I just hope to be able to get to know my sisters and my birth mother, and I hope we can all be friends. That is all I can hope for at this point.”