Incredible Chance Meeting Reunites Family

May 28, 2004 — -- When Ila Manner looked at the albums of her daughter, she would see an empty place that others couldn't see — it was the place in her heart where a son should have been, a son she'd lost for 34 years, kept secret except in her prayers. But now that emptiness has been filled in a way no one could have predicted.

"Every day in every one of our lives there are incredible miracles happening. And maybe we're just too human to see them," Manner said.

Manner was raised in Miami Beach, Fla., the youngest of four sisters. She grew up near the ocean, and by 14, she had met a surfer named Chris Maracic at a high school dance. The romance lasted three years until Maracic was drafted into the Army to fight in Vietnam. At the same time, Manner discovered she was pregnant. She was 17.

"We were both really just kids," she said. "But things like that just don't go away if you don't tell anybody.

Her parents decided it was best to keep the pregnancy a secret and admitted their daughter into one of the Florence Crittenton Homes for unwed mothers which cared for their patients until they gave birth, then arranged for the adoption of their children.

On Aug. 9, 1968, Ila gave birth to a baby boy after two days of labor that ended with Caesarean section. As she recovered in the Crittenton home, the only way she could see her son was through the glass of a hospital window.

"I would take my IV pole and go down to the nursery every chance I had. And I would look and stand there. But they wouldn't let me touch him," Manner said.

She felt powerless. Her only hope was to give a few precious clues so she might someday find him again. On the adoption form, she made up occupations for herself and Maracic — hairstylist and oceanographer.

"These were my crumbs in the forest," Manner said of the fictitious occupations, "to find him some day."

Her son was adopted three weeks after his birth, but she could never discover what had happened to him. Maracic returned from Vietnam and the two were married. A year later, they had a daughter they named Kari, but the marriage ended in divorce and Manner could not forget the son she had given up.