Two half-brothers have met on a doorstep in Kuna, the culmination of a 15-year odyssey that began as a search for their father.
One ring of a doorbell and Bob Graham of Brownhills, England, stood face to face with his half-brother, Richard Lemaster."He said, `Hi, are you Bob? Are you serious?' " Graham said at Lemaster's home.
The ensuing handshake began a somewhat bittersweet meeting made possible by Bob's wife, Glen. In 1976, she began a search for her husband's father, a U.S. soldier who had an affair with a married woman while stationed in England in World War II. Twelve years of the search proved futile because she was given the wrong name of the soldier.
After obtaining his real name four years ago, she found out he died in 1979 in Oklahoma. But the name led her to relatives, who told her about Lemaster.
"She called me (in May) and let me know I would be getting a call from someone who claims to be my brother," Lemaster said.
A short time later, the two men were talking over the phone and planning to get together. When money became a problem, Glen Graham was able to persuade Northwest Airlines to provide plane tickets to America.
The two have been inseparable since they met last Monday. "We're just hanging out and enjoying each other's company," Lemaster said.
Lemaster, 51, a project superintendent for a Minneapolis construction company, was born in Logan, Ohio. He has spent most of his adult life in the South working on various construction projects. He is in Idaho working on a $47 million generating plant at Swan Falls.
Glen's record-tracking ability has enabled her to successfully trace about 200 natural parents for the organization War Babes. She currently has nine unsolved cases, including one involving an English girl looking for her father, who may be in Boise.
Graham said he is the more introverted and private of the two. Lemaster planned several events over the holiday weekend, including a fish fry Saturday.
The visit has had some sad moments, especially when the half-brothers went to the U.S. Im-migration and Naturalization Service office in Boise. Graham, a mechanical pipefitter, hopes to be able to live closer to his half-brother, but the chance of even obtaining a work permit appears slim.
"I want to come and live and work in the states. I want to work with Dick," Graham, 47, said, adding that the economic conditions in England are bad. "I'm very discouraged."
Also, Lemaster has not been able to tell Graham much about their father. Lemaster said his father and mother separated when he was 11 and he went to live with his grandparents.
Both men said they thought their father would show up on their doorstep one day. "I thought he would want to see his grandchildren," Lemaster said.
Does Graham have any complaints about his brother?
Just one - "He gives me too much beer and too much food."