MONROE - At 100 years old, Eileen Wagner of Monroe finds little surprises her.
But in late April, Wagner had the shock of a lifetime when the daughter she gave up for adoption in 1933 greeted her on the telephone.
"She said, "Hello, Mother,'" Wagner said. "That was the sweetest thing I had heard in years."
Wagner was a teenager growing up in De Pere when she became pregnant. The circumstances leading up to the adoption of her baby are not good memories, but Wagner clearly remembers what happened: She recalls the spring day when she was 16, walking home from the library with a friend. The pair halted on the main road when they met two boys, one her friend's boyfriend. The group talked for a while, but as 10 p.m. quickly approached, Wagner knew she had to be home for her curfew. Accepting an offer from the other boy when he said he would walk her home, Wagner followed him along a path he said was a shortcut through the park. This was where the boy sexually assaulted her.
Scared and ashamed, she tried to hide the pregnancy that resulted from the attack. As months passed, Wagner was eventually found out by her parents and sent to a home for unwed mothers in Milwaukee.
She said it was a stressful time and that she was filled with conflicting emotions.
"I knew I couldn't keep her," Wagner said, recalling the three months she spent locked away from society. "So it was a hard time for me."
The little girl was born April 15. Wagner never knew her infant daughter, but watched as the little girl was adopted during a brief proceeding in Milwaukee County Court two years later.
More than 80 years later, that daughter, Dorien Hammann, said she still can not fully comprehend what has happened within the past six weeks.
"It's still unreal," Hammann said. "Never in my wildest dreams did anyone believe this would happen."
Hammann, now 83, grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. She said she enjoyed a life of love from parents who told her and her brother at a young age that they both had been adopted. Hammann said her mother and father explained to them they were special and loved, especially because they were chosen by their parents while other families "took what they got."
She said she has had a happy life, and that worry by Wagner was unfounded because she has "had no complaints." Hammann has had 37 years with her husband, and enjoys the company of three children and three grandchildren. The discovery of her birth mother was the result of digging by her daughter-in-law Jeanette Foster, who looked up Hammann's family online. Without Hammann's knowledge, Foster simply typed names she remembered from the adoption document into Google and found an obituary for Wagner's brother, which indicated Wagner was a relative living in Monroe. The call came late in the day.
"I was sitting home one night and I had the TV on and this name comes across the screen," Wagner said.
When she picked up, Wagner said Foster asked "would you like to talk to your daughter?"
Wagner had kept Hammann's existence a secret through the years. She moved to Monroe after high school to pursue a career in nursing. She began a training program at the Deaconess Hospital, located where Wisconsin Bank and Trust now stands north of the Square downtown. That's where she met her husband Richard, the first male nurse in Wisconsin, Wagner proudly proclaimed. In 1938, the couple was married. Now deceased, her husband was the only person in her life she told about the daughter she had given up.
The couple contributed to Monroe during their decades of marriage. They first got into the sulfur bath business before operating Wagner's Nursing Home and an ambulance service of the same name. Out of their business, they also imported wood and brass. Wagner volunteered with different organizations throughout the city, from the Parent Teacher Association to the American Heart Association and other charitable organizations.
During her marriage, Wagner had two children. In her spare time, she headed out to Windy Acres Golf Course, which she said was a "second home" for her. Until her early 90s, Wagner golfed every day. Now plagued with knee replacements and glaucoma, she spends most of her time reading, solving puzzles and cheering on the Packers and the Badgers football or basketball teams.
Wagner and Hammann have met in person four times since that memorable phone call. During their first discussion, Hammann was with her husband in Florida, but arranged to return to her home in Plymouth by way of Monroe. The two cities are just under 150 miles apart.
When the family members met, Wagner's son Bill said it was as if they had been waiting to meet their entire lives.
"I threw my arms around her and said, "About time you got here, Sis,'" he said.
More hugging broke out and tears were shed. Wagner remarked that Hammann has a similar appearance to her daughter Nancy DeLap, while everyone noticed the mother and daughter have a number of similarities as well. Both enjoy golf, went into health care fields and look strikingly similar.
Since then, mother and daughter have been exchanging phone calls. Hammann visited Wagner for Mother's Day. Wagner, Bill Wagner and DeLap visited Hammann at her home for lunch. Hammann then came back to Monroe for Wagner's 100th birthday celebration Sunday, where friends and family from a number of states gathered to celebrate her century-long life.
"It's like a dream," Wagner said. "I figured it wouldn't happen this late. It's hard to express just how it feels."
But in late April, Wagner had the shock of a lifetime when the daughter she gave up for adoption in 1933 greeted her on the telephone.
"She said, "Hello, Mother,'" Wagner said. "That was the sweetest thing I had heard in years."
Wagner was a teenager growing up in De Pere when she became pregnant. The circumstances leading up to the adoption of her baby are not good memories, but Wagner clearly remembers what happened: She recalls the spring day when she was 16, walking home from the library with a friend. The pair halted on the main road when they met two boys, one her friend's boyfriend. The group talked for a while, but as 10 p.m. quickly approached, Wagner knew she had to be home for her curfew. Accepting an offer from the other boy when he said he would walk her home, Wagner followed him along a path he said was a shortcut through the park. This was where the boy sexually assaulted her.
Scared and ashamed, she tried to hide the pregnancy that resulted from the attack. As months passed, Wagner was eventually found out by her parents and sent to a home for unwed mothers in Milwaukee.
She said it was a stressful time and that she was filled with conflicting emotions.
"I knew I couldn't keep her," Wagner said, recalling the three months she spent locked away from society. "So it was a hard time for me."
The little girl was born April 15. Wagner never knew her infant daughter, but watched as the little girl was adopted during a brief proceeding in Milwaukee County Court two years later.
More than 80 years later, that daughter, Dorien Hammann, said she still can not fully comprehend what has happened within the past six weeks.
"It's still unreal," Hammann said. "Never in my wildest dreams did anyone believe this would happen."
Hammann, now 83, grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee. She said she enjoyed a life of love from parents who told her and her brother at a young age that they both had been adopted. Hammann said her mother and father explained to them they were special and loved, especially because they were chosen by their parents while other families "took what they got."
She said she has had a happy life, and that worry by Wagner was unfounded because she has "had no complaints." Hammann has had 37 years with her husband, and enjoys the company of three children and three grandchildren. The discovery of her birth mother was the result of digging by her daughter-in-law Jeanette Foster, who looked up Hammann's family online. Without Hammann's knowledge, Foster simply typed names she remembered from the adoption document into Google and found an obituary for Wagner's brother, which indicated Wagner was a relative living in Monroe. The call came late in the day.
"I was sitting home one night and I had the TV on and this name comes across the screen," Wagner said.
When she picked up, Wagner said Foster asked "would you like to talk to your daughter?"
Wagner had kept Hammann's existence a secret through the years. She moved to Monroe after high school to pursue a career in nursing. She began a training program at the Deaconess Hospital, located where Wisconsin Bank and Trust now stands north of the Square downtown. That's where she met her husband Richard, the first male nurse in Wisconsin, Wagner proudly proclaimed. In 1938, the couple was married. Now deceased, her husband was the only person in her life she told about the daughter she had given up.
The couple contributed to Monroe during their decades of marriage. They first got into the sulfur bath business before operating Wagner's Nursing Home and an ambulance service of the same name. Out of their business, they also imported wood and brass. Wagner volunteered with different organizations throughout the city, from the Parent Teacher Association to the American Heart Association and other charitable organizations.
During her marriage, Wagner had two children. In her spare time, she headed out to Windy Acres Golf Course, which she said was a "second home" for her. Until her early 90s, Wagner golfed every day. Now plagued with knee replacements and glaucoma, she spends most of her time reading, solving puzzles and cheering on the Packers and the Badgers football or basketball teams.
Wagner and Hammann have met in person four times since that memorable phone call. During their first discussion, Hammann was with her husband in Florida, but arranged to return to her home in Plymouth by way of Monroe. The two cities are just under 150 miles apart.
When the family members met, Wagner's son Bill said it was as if they had been waiting to meet their entire lives.
"I threw my arms around her and said, "About time you got here, Sis,'" he said.
More hugging broke out and tears were shed. Wagner remarked that Hammann has a similar appearance to her daughter Nancy DeLap, while everyone noticed the mother and daughter have a number of similarities as well. Both enjoy golf, went into health care fields and look strikingly similar.
Since then, mother and daughter have been exchanging phone calls. Hammann visited Wagner for Mother's Day. Wagner, Bill Wagner and DeLap visited Hammann at her home for lunch. Hammann then came back to Monroe for Wagner's 100th birthday celebration Sunday, where friends and family from a number of states gathered to celebrate her century-long life.
"It's like a dream," Wagner said. "I figured it wouldn't happen this late. It's hard to express just how it feels."