“We had one of those ‘tell me about your family’ assignments in school,” he said, “and I concocted some out-there story about who my birth parents were and why they had to give me up. Needless to say, my (adoptive) parents were not pleased.”
His adoptive mother, Alma, grew up in the Ogallala area; his dad, Charles, was from Oklahoma. They met when his dad, an electrical lineman, moved to the area to help with the construction of Kingsley Dam and Lake McConaughy in the 1930s.
After they married, they returned to Oklahoma, where his mom — one of 11 children — was anxious to start her own family.
“Here she was, with all her siblings and their kids, and she wanted nothing more than to have her own,” Bob said, “but it didn’t happen.”
Unable to conceive, the young couple decided to adopt and turned to the Fairmount Maternity Hospital in Kansas City. They were hoping for a baby girl.
“It was also no secret that, when they decided to adopt, they wanted a girl,” Bob said.
This is the letter sent to the O’Dells after the couple contacted the Fairmount Maternity Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., inquiring about adopting a baby. (Courtesy of Bob O’Dell)
But they “settled” for the “lovely little boy” the agency had available at the time.
The “lovely little boy,” born Feb. 25, 1938, was given the name Donald Hall at birth. And on March 19, 1938, with three letters of recommendation (one “from a minister, if possible, and the other two from lawyers, doctors, bankers or good businessmen,” attesting to their “good moral standing” and that they were “physically and financially able to care for a child” and the payment of the $42.50 adoption fee, Donald Hall became Robert O’Dell.
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