Just before the death of his parents, author Tom Liotti, legendary lawyer and judge from New York, learned that he was adopted. In his heartfelt autobiography, Liotti shares the amazing story of how this knowledge impacted his life, his work, and his legacy. Liotti traces the lineage of his parents, Louis and Eileen, and then delves into his childhood. From his first days at kindergarten to being a collegiate swimmer and eventually a famous civil rights attorney, Liotti reveals how his parents always offered encouragement and support through every facet of his life, loved him unconditionally, and shaped his passion for social justice. But it was the discovery of his adoption that altered Liotti's world, sending him down an uncharted path. He began searching for his biological parents, desperate to find his roots and know his heritage. No matter his findings, though, Liotti realized how each of us has limitless potential and that love has an infinite capacity to change the world. Gripping, honest, and real, The Secret Adoption brilliantly captures one man's incredible journey into the past and speaks to the resilience of the human spirit.
THE SECRET ADOPTION
By Thomas F. LiottiiUniverse, Inc.
Copyright © 2011 Thomas F. Liotti
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4502-9556-7Contents
Dedication..............................................................................viiPreface.................................................................................xiAcknowledgments.........................................................................xviiChapter I—Finding a Home..........................................................1Chapter II—Making Of Middle America...............................................17Chapter III—Looking For More......................................................26Chapter IV—The Nuns...............................................................30Chapter V—Hardball And Learning To Steal Home.....................................40Chapter VI—Finding My Niche In Sports.............................................50Chapter VII—First Breakthrough Into The Big Time..................................58Chapter VIII—The Road To Excellence...............................................60Chapter IX—Working Harder Than Anyone To Reach The Goal...........................70Chapter X—Eye On The Olympics.....................................................80Chapter XI—Three And One Half Yards And A Cloud Of Dust...........................92Chapter XII—Goodbye Columbus......................................................108Chapter XIII—Coming Back..........................................................117Chapter XIV—Political Awareness...................................................120Chapter XV—After Sports—Segue To Reality....................................143Chapter XVI—The Tools For Reform..................................................153Chapter XVII—Down But Never Out—Stepping Up.................................192Chapter XVIII—No Office, No Clients, No Money But An Attorney.....................208Chapter XIX—Battling At The Bar...................................................218Chapter XX—To Judge...............................................................228Chapter XXI—The Adoption Secret...................................................240Chapter XXII—The Search...........................................................260Chapter XXIII—Ethnic Pride........................................................263Chapter XXIV—At Least One Sibling.................................................265Chapter XXV—A Lawyer's Work.......................................................267Chapter XXVI—Discoveries..........................................................272Chapter XXVII—Epilogue............................................................276Index...................................................................................363
Chapter One
Finding a Home
In 2002, my dad, Louis Joseph Liotti, was 85 and my mother, Eileen Frances Liotti, was 82. Eight years before that my dad had triple bypass surgery, and one year before that, in 2001, mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. They had lived in the same split-level house in Westbury, Long Island for forty-two years. Mom was having increasing difficulty cleaning it and dad was having a hard time just navigating the stairs.
Dad had been a contract negotiator for Western Electric Company, and prior to that President of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), the Office Workers Local in Manhattan. For twenty years, mom was a keypunch operator for Nassau County and later, a recorder of deeds. In her youth she was a model. They retired together in 1982 and went on one major trip. It was a two week trip to Italy with Perillo Tours. I felt guilty about that because when I went to Italy with my wife in 1983, we stayed at the finest hotels and resorts including Villa d' Este, the former Cardinal's home on Lake Como just outside of Milan. Indeed, I played on the same tennis court used by the Pope just a week before, next to the border of Switzerland. I went to La Scalla to see a German opera and ate Osso Bucco, Caruso's favorite meal, at his favorite restaurant and sat at his table. I saw The Last Supper painting which was being restored, hanging at the back of an old church. No security, just hanging there. I had lunch at the Hotel Cipriani in Venice and we finished our stay at San Pietro in Positano, the world-famous resort built on the side of the Amalfi coast, on which I drove my own car, a Lancha. The beach consisted of a massive piece of rock perhaps one hundred yards long with the upper portion blown out to create a massive granite-looking-type slab of flat rock and the feeling that you are in a cave with the sun shining on you, with the Island of Capri off the coast. It was in San Pietro that I read in the hotel log book: "Living well is the best revenge."
My wife Wendy and I had a small house about a mile west from my parents, also in the Village of Westbury. We have three children and all were living with us at the time. In 2002, our twins, Louis and Carole, were seventeen and Francesca, our youngest daughter, was thirteen.
After some careful planning we agreed with my parents that they would sell their home and use the money from the proceeds of the sale of their home to renovate our home to accommodate their moving in with us. Selling a home that they had lived in for over forty-two years was heartbreaking for them and for me. I had lived in that house with them for sixteen years, not leaving until 1977 when I was thirty and had just gotten married.
My parents married in 1941 and dated for five years before that. My dad went off to war in Europe. He was an infantryman, a corporal in the U.S. Army and participated in the invasion of France. He never talked about his many friends who died during the war, except to say that he made God a promise while he was there. He promised that if his life were spared he would pray everyday. He did say his prayers everyday. He said the rosary at least once a day, he became a daily communicant and an usher in his church, St. Brigid's of Westbury. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Holy Name Society.
I can remember when my dad and I went to see the movie, Saving Private Ryan. At one point in the movie I looked at my father and noticed that he was crying. I told him to "Take it easy, it's okay," but he did not stop for awhile. As people get older they often become more emotional, nostalgic and cry a lot. My father also spoke of having to return home on an emergency leave to tend to my mother who had miscarried. Thereafter this happened a few more times to my mom, at least three times and possibly as much as seven. Years later when I was nine or ten, my father told me about the miscarriages and I cried over the brothers and sisters I would never know.
One can only imagine how devastating this must have been for both my parents in that era. Reproduction was a cultural and religious mandate. When my dad learned of my mother's miscarriage he made special arrangements to return home on military leave. At the time, if a woman could not have a child, her friends, family and neighbors questioned her entire worth or value to society. Feelings of remorse and depression might ensue. I do not know if that ever happened to my mother, she was an optimist by nature. My father was totally supportive of her even when faced with the fact that he might not ever have a child of his own. They never thought of divorce....
