e-mail address:  LanyKay@gmail.com

Residence:  Robson Ranch Golf Resort, Eloy, Arizona

Life since high school:

Where have all the years gone?

After moving to CO. for 5 years, I transferred to Middle Tennessee. I have been living in Brentwood,(near Nashville) since 1977, selling real estate. website @ LanyKayMartell.com

My son Mark Zander (son of Bill Zander, class of '64) and his wife Serenity have made me a proud grandmother of Katherine and Zachary. Mark and his family transferred to Indiana, after attaining his masters degree @ Dallas Theological Seminary.

Six years ago I found my older twin brothers, Pat and Mike on the internet. (I was an adoptee, this is a whole other story- see below))

Interests include, traveling, scuba diving (the Carribean is the best) my jet ski, roller blading, hiking, reading and preparing healthy cuisine.

I stay in touch on a regular basis with Donna Carlson West, Louie Siegel and Mr. George Hinkle.

My dear funny little mother, Mildred Martell, is still going strong at 84 years young; she lives in an assisted care in Nashville. My father, Edmond Martell, passed away in 1981. Does anyone remember him reading your palms at the slumber party at my house during Easter Break in 1962?

I missed our last reunion and picnic, so welcome emails from anyone.

Subsequent messages:
(March, 2002) Wow! Who would believe its that time again...I have had a busy year in sales, especially the first quarter, than a moderate spring, slow summer and slow fall. Just when I thought it would be OK to take a vacation, my business picked up again, so, I left it in good hands and went on a 16 days cruise to The Panama Canal. The ports I visited were exceptional. I went scuba diving in Aruba, sightseeing in Cartagena, Colombia, all day through the Canal, then rode down the river in the Costa Rican rainforest. More sightseeing in Huatulco, Mexico, and rode a shot jet boat at Acapulco, plus watched the cliff divers jump into the ocean. Then on to Cabo San Lucas for ocean kayaking. Final destination was San Diego to the famous zoo and then back home.

Yesterday, I returned from 3 days of scuba diving at Little Cayman Island. My opinion regarding flying, since Sept 11, is that you will need a vacation to help rid the stress of getting through all the security checks and waiting lines at the airports, especially for foreign flights. So far, I have flown on US Air, American and Continental. and in my experiences, Continental was the most consumer friendly.

Well, enough about my adventures.....

My son, Mark and his wife Serenity are doing well in Macon, GA. They purchased a cute home and have had fun decorating it for Christmas. Katie is now 8 years old and making straight A's. Zach is 4 years old and in preschool. Serenity took a position with Merrill Lynch and just passed her brokers' exam and Mark loves the challenges at New York Life Ins. as the office manager.

>My mother, Mildred, will be 82 in January an is now living at an assisted care home in Nashville. She just loves it as the meals are excellent and the facility is brand new. It's called Mary Queen of Angels. They really like her as she is quite the cut up and says exactly what she thinks. I am so thankful to have found such a nice place for her to get the best of care.

(August, 2002)  Note: although submitted in August, 2002, the majority was written in November, 1997.  See PS at the end for update.
A miracle took place last month, and I would like to share it with all of you. As many of you know, I was an adopted child, and always felt very special and chosen by my adoptive parents, Edmond & Mildred Martell. They told me from my earliest memories of how my biological parents, Neil and Ruth, were unable to care for another child, and so promised their next child to them if my mother should become pregnant again. Neil was a widower and had one son, Ronnie. I found out recently that Ruth was very naive and an emotionally disturbed young woman when she married my father who was eleven years her senior. She had been placed in an orphanage as a child, and was quite bitter. Eleven months after the wedding, she gave birth to identical twins Pat and Mike. Several months after they were born, she discovered she was pregnant again with another set of twins. Not wanting these babies, she went horseback riding and miscarried. They were baby boys. Shortly thereafter, she met Ed and Millie, who had been trying to have a child for nine years. Several months later she became pregnant again (with me), only this time she had found a loving couple to give me to. Millie would go to Ruth's home daily to help her with the twins and make sure she was eating properly and taking her vitamins, etc.

Ruth and Neil's marriage was deteriorating. Neil fashioned himself a ladies' man and stayed out much of the time, leaving Ruth to care for his older son and the twins. Ruth would place the twins in their cribs and leave them alone for hours. They would bang their heads until they knocked holes in the walls from boredom and stress. She would lock them in the closet and leave the house for periods of time. One day she locked them in the closet just before Neil came home from work, but this time she did not return. Neil decided that raising three active little boys was not something he wanted to do either. He spoke with an orphanage about placing the boys there. In the interim, he found a lady friend to raise Ron and she found another lady, a forty-year-old entertainer by the name of Sally. Sally had never married because she was busy traveling the world, playing music in an all ladies band. Sally decided it was time to settle down, so she welcomed Pat and Mike into her home. They were almost five years old now. Pat and Mike turned out to be quite a handful. Little Mike was placed in a hospital for a short time, as they thought he might be suffering from autism. When he was not diagnosed, she placed them in a Military Academy near her to help establish discipline. Their rearing was regimented and firm, though not very nurturing. They suffered emotional and disciplinary problems from their abused and turbulent beginnings. Neil kept minimal contact with them until he committed suicide. Ruth called them one time when they were twelve years old and said she wanted to see them, but never showed up or called again. We have discovered her tragic life ended as a broken woman, with a history of alcoholism and alone with colon cancer, one day short of her fifty-fifth birthday. I was sorry to hear this as I had hoped to meet her and thank her for giving me to such a wonderful and loving couple.

Last January, Pat decided it was time to trace his ancestry and told Sally of his intentions. Sally, now ninety-three, for some reason chose not to tell Pat and Mike of their baby sister, given away at birth. The only other information he had of his family was that his dad committed suicide and his mother abandoned him. I had several pictures of us together as small children as did they. They were not told who the little girl in the picture was, and thought I might be a cousin.

I have been actively searching for my brothers every since my adoptive father passed away. The problem I was running up against was they had changed their last name. If it had not been for the Salvation Army who helped me locate Marita, a sister of Neil's, and AOL where I found a posting from Pat's wife Nancy on the geneaology site, I would still be searching. The funny part of this is that after I emailed Nancy and Pat who I was, they were not checking their email. So I called AOL Corporate Offices and told them my dilemma, and they were gracious enough to make the call. When we were finally able to talk, there were many tears of happiness as this family is now able to come together. I hope to fly out soon to California for a much-anticipated reunion to meet my brothers, their wives and my three nieces and two nephews. For my birthday, several weeks ago, Mike sent me a beautiful gold necklace and heart inscribed with "Sister" on the front and "With Love" on the back. We are sending pictures via the Internet. What is ironic about all this is that many families choose not to be close, take each other for granted and sometimes let petty arguments destroy their family relationship. Ironic, how we were seeking to find our family and never had that choice.

P.S.  It is now 2002 and I have had the opportunity on severa l occasions to meet my brothers in person. They had some pretty turbulent times as teenagers but have worked out most of the abandonment issues. The most important thing to happen in my life was being blessed with having two loving parents to guide me and support me in my formative years.

(August, 2010)  See 2010 reunion questionnaire response.

(November, 2015)  See 2015 reunion questionnaire response.

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