Posted on 09/10/2006 6:20:21 AM PDT by I_saw_the_light
ST. PAUL, Minn. - While searching for her birth parents two years ago, Mariah Mills found more than she bargained for: A hero of Sept. 11, 2001.
Mills' biological father, who had given Mills up for adoption when he and his then-girlfriend were in college, was Tom Burnett, a leader of a group that fought back on United Flight 93 before it crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mills, 21, learned about her birth father in 2004 — after she turned 19, the legal age in Minnesota for requesting a birth certificate with names of birth parents — and subsequent DNA tests confirmed that Burnett was her father.
"Before I was even born, my birth dad made a brave decision — to give me a life," Mills told the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Sunday's editions. "It was a selfless act, just like his actions on Flight 93. And, as awful as it was that he died, and I never got to know him, there is good that came out of this."
Today, Mills has developed a relationship with Burnett's widow, Deena, her three daughters, husband and stepson, and other members of Burnett's family. She also celebrated her birthday with her birth mother, who lives in St. Paul with her husband and two children and asked not to be identified.
Mills transferred to the University of Minnesota and is entering her senior year. She will spend her first semester studying abroad. Her dream job, she said, would be writing about baseball and covering the Minnesota Twins.
Mills and her adoptive parents visited Jefferson High School in Bloomington during the spring of 2004 after Mariah found out about her birth parents. Mariah wanted to look up Tom Burnett in his senior yearbook. She found his photo and one of her birth mother, too.
"It was weird to finally look like somebody," Mills said. "I have her eyes, but mostly I look like a Burnett."
Thanks.
Maybe I'm getting disgusted and disillusioned by the nanny-welfare-donothing-'gimme-more' people in this country ...
I get the feeling that this article was only STEP 1 to her claiming her share of the multi-million dollar death-lotto of Sept 11, 2001.
It could be a legitimate excellent story of pride in her "bio-dad" (sickening that we even have THAT term) in that case it IS a nice tribute.
LadyX has been heavy on my mind the past few days...and when I came across this thread, I thought of her again...and you.
To say that this man gave life is the understatement of the centuries, eh? There is so much more to this story than the words written here and I thought she'd like you to see it : )
The money has been given, and I would think it doesn't follow the laws of inheritance, where children get a share, does it???
On the other hand, she's legally not his child, so that's another strike against this theory.
I HOPE you are wrong!
I didn't read any of that into this article.
Thank you, I'm sure she would have pinged me to it.
Our Dear Lady lives on forever in our Hearts, Souls and Mind.
This would have to have been very emotional to find out. What a brave honorable man. He appears to have mede the right decisions in life from early back.
Yeah, I think you've gotten cynical. She would have zero standing under the law, for one thing.
And I don't mean to be harsh, but why can't you just presume the kid innocent until she gives you some evidence she's guilty?
She would not have any standing to claim the money that I can see.
She's some other man's child now.
But it's a nice story that she found him.
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