The long but interesting story of my mom's friend and her family

@sissy15 (12775)
United States
June 13, 2026 3:55am CST
Growing up, my mom had this friend who was an odd duck, as was her family. I decided to see if I could find her son online, because I grew up with him until a certain age, and then never really saw him again. He was always a strange kid, not necessarily bad strange, but definitely strange just the same. This whole family was interesting. My research has been confusing and interesting. My search results have been full of weird information. I'll start from the beginning. My childhood home sat directly next to my mom's friend's mother. The mother was this nice older Jehovah's Witness, my mom's friend (the neighbor's daughter) wanted no part of that religion, and would intentionally do things like buying her mother a gift on her (the friend's) birthday, because birthdays are not celebrated. I think maybe she chose this as a workaround; I honestly don't know. My mom's friend had two children, one was my sister's age (my sister is about 19 years older than me), and the other was my age. The daughter was the one who was my sister's age, and when she was young, she was in a car accident with her mom, and who I thought was her dad (this is where my research got interesting). The accident killed the friend's husband and left her daughter mentally handicapped, and I'm not sure how bad off my mom's friend was, but she came out of it ok. They told my mom's friend that her daughter wouldn't be able to talk or walk, etc, but my mom's friend was determined to prove them wrong, and she did. Her daughter relearned to walk and talk. I guess prior to the accident, the daughter was very intelligent, and while the daughter beat the odds, she was left with some definite mental deficits. I only ever knew the daughter as mentally handicapped. Years later, my mom's friend had a son with the man she married after she lost her last husband. The son is about 2 months younger than me. My mom's friend decided to homeschool him, and he was incredibly smart. In order to socialize him, she used to come and get my mom, my brother, and me, and do things with us like going to the zoo, or sometimes we would just go to her house, which I loved because he had every toy known to man. He had all of the toys my parents couldn't afford to get us. He had an entire library and playroom dedicated to him. He had a computer that my mom's friend taught me how to use. He had all of the movies I could ever think of on VHS. I loved going to her house. We played with her son, but what was interesting was when he was at his grandma's house, which was directly next to ours, he ignored us and pretty much acted like we didn't exist, which was interesting. As we got older, we lost touch for a bit. We found out the daughter had a daughter, but we have no clue who the father is. As I mentioned, she is mentally handicapped and was unable to raise the child, so my mom's friend raised her. The friend's mom took in my mom's friend's daughter (her granddaughter) and built a cabin on her property so she had some independence. I know that there were some issues between my mom's friend and her daughter, but I never knew all of the issues there. I saw the friend and her granddaughter, whom she was raising, a few times years later, and would occasionally run into her at the grocery store. At one point, my mom ran into her at the fair (I was probably around 19 or so and hadn't met my now husband yet), and they tried to get the friend's son to go to a movie with me ( I was not present during this conversation). They had given him my number, and I think AIM screen name. He said he didn't think I'd want to go with him, and he never bothered to contact me. He was incredibly antisocial, but from what I heard managed to make a life for himself. I think I was told he was a truck driver and found a girlfriend. Anyway, I decided to search for him, and from what I can see, he doesn't have social media, nor does his niece. I knew his sister wouldn't have one. I knew his dad died several years ago; he committed suicide. There were rumors that my mom's friend may have had something to do with it, but I don't know that there is any truth to that. I mentioned that this search got interesting, and it does. I went through and read obituaries, trying to get information. My mom's friend's obituary said she had two children and listed her son and the granddaughter she raised, and I thought, OK, that's fair, she probably did raise her as her daughter. I don't think she was ever formally adopted because she still had her mother's last name and not my mom's friend's current last name, but what was interesting was that it didn't mention her daughter at all. I can understand that sometimes there are differences, but I found it odd to completely omit an entire child. I then went and searched for my neighbor's obituary. It mentions the two daughters and then goes on to say she had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She didn't have several of either. She had two grandchildren and one great-grandchild. I don't understand why they would list it that way. It didn't mention my mom's friend's daughter either, but it also didn't mention the others. I was just baffled by the several. I was then curious if they knew who the father was of the granddaughter that my mom's friend raised. The birth record I found was missing a father. I then found a marriage announcement but not a marriage record for the daughter. It was listed to be around the same time the daughter had her baby, which I found interesting. I am unsure when the daughter moved in with her grandmother. I don't know much about her life prior to that. I then found multiple death certificates for the friend's husband killed in the accident. They had differing information about where the official death was. One made more sense than the other. I would think it was a different man, but it had all of the same other information. It also listed him as being the father of my mom's friend's daughter, but when I looked up the birth record for the daughter, it was a different man entirely. My mom probably knew this particular information, but I didn't. I'll be calling my mom later tomorrow to tell her what I found. I did look up the records for who owned both my mom's friend's house and the house her mother owned next to ours. The friend's house went to her son and granddaughter, and both names are currently on it, even though the son has his own home he owns, not super far from it. My mom's friend's mother's house originally went to the friend's sister and the friend's son and granddaughter, once again omitting the friend's daughter, who actually lived on the property from the house deed. It then looks like the son and granddaughter sold their portion to their aunt (my mom's friend's sister), who I think now takes care of my mom's friend's daughter. The sister is getting up there in age, so I don't know what will happen to the daughter when she goes, because I doubt the other two want to take care of her. I just thought all of this was so odd, and I still can't find any other information on either my mom's friend's son or the granddaughter. If they have social media, they aren't using their names. I found it odd that someone who didn't like talking to people in person wouldn't have some form of social information. I was curious what he looked like now and how he turned out, other than the little bit of information I was told. I know addresses, and I know what I was told, and what I found out about the homes, because it's all public record, but beyond that, I don't know anything else. I know it sounds like a lot, but I don't have anything connecting any of it.
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1 response
@celticeagle (190166)
• Boise, Idaho
13 Jun
Maybe it's better that you don't know.
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@sissy15 (12775)
• United States
13 Jun
I don't really want to know so I can physically be in their lives; I wanted to know more out of curiosity. I don't see how knowing anything about them could be harmful since I have no real illusions of anything, nor do I want to reconnect. I guess sometimes you just get curious as to what happened to people.
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@celticeagle (190166)
• Boise, Idaho
15 Jun
@sissy15 .........I understand. I'm a very curious person too and can see me doing the same thing that you are. I hope you are able to find out more.
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@celticeagle (190166)
• Boise, Idaho
16 Jun
@sissy15 ........Yeah, I think a lot might have been going on. Family members are dying out now so not much chance for more info coming out. Many families are very secretive.
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