Alan Craddock took a trip at the end of February he won’t be forgetting any time soon – the Addison Township resident traveled eight hours to Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania, to meet the half brother he never knew he had.
Craddock, 61, learned about his brother, George McVeigh, 53, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, this past November. Two weeks before Thanksgiving, the retired Detroit Edison Meter Specialist began searching for his birth father – and that search led him to someone he never expected.
“My wife Sandy encouraged me to search for my father since I’ve been estranged from my stepfather for 15 years,” said Craddock. “I wasn’t sure until Dick Purtan said something on his show that triggered something inside of me – and I knew it was time so I began an internet search.”
Craddock, who was born in Canada and grew up with his mother and stepfather in Michigan, knew that his biological father was Canadian George Edward Maxam. An internet search for “Maxam” produced 15 different names.
“I just called all of them and reached a woman named Mary Maxam,” explained Craddock. “She said to me ‘Do you know you have a brother?’ I didn’t know what to think.”
Mary Maxam offered a name and phone number to Craddock, but the Addison resident declined. Instead, he asked her to please provide his “new” brother with his contact information “so he could call if he wanted.”.
On Thanksgiving Day, Craddock received “a holiday miracle” when McVeigh called. The two brothers spoke four times that day alone.
“Now we talk on the computer for a couple hours almost every day,” laughs Craddock.
Craddock shares a biological father with George McVeigh – the two have different mothers. McVeigh started life in Canada’s foster care system and was eventually adopted. He was raised by his adoptive family in Ontario. Today, McVeigh works for the Children’s Aids Society in Pennsylvania, and has found his own biological mother.
At the end of February, Craddock decided the time had come to meet the brother he never knew. So he and his wife Sandy left around midnight on a Tuesday night in late February and traveled eight hours to the Milky Way Restaurant in Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania.
“My first reaction was ‘Yeah, he looks like me, he acts like me,’” remembers Craddock. “Sandy even says he has expressions like me.”
He added that he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d be able to get a hug, but before he knew it “everyone hugged everybody.” Still, the best part of the emotional meeting was yet to come.
“(George) surprised me by giving me our dad’s war medals,” said Craddock. “He said, ‘You were the oldest, so you should have these.’ I can’t say how much that meant to me.”
Craddock and Sandy stayed in Pennsylvania for five days. They toured local scenery and got to know their new family.
“We went out to eat and everybody knew us from pictures that were in the newspaper,” laughed Craddock. “The trip was excellent. We’re so much alike — he even goes to church again now and it’s the same one my wife and I attend here.”
“I don’t know, maybe there’s something behind this we don’t know about, but that’s how the world works.”
The two brothers keep in very close contact. Craddock said he wants to spend as much time with his brother; especially since “he was already 53 when I found him” and “that just doesn’t leave us much time.”
Today, Craddock is still searching for more information on his background. He enjoys exploring the Maxam side of his family tree and is currently searching for his biological father’s death certificate.
“The whole thing amazes me,” said Craddock, with a tear in his eye. “Just amazing, finding out I have a 53-year-old brother. It’s a heartwarming experience.”