“I just knew, financially, I wouldn’t be able to do it. And the other thing—I wanted him to have a mother and father, so I decided at that point it was best to put him up for adoption,” said Pressley…

On June 17, 1988, she gave birth to her son at the then-Timken Mercy Hospital in Canton. She didn’t name him because she wanted his adoptive parents to have that honor.

She said that day, she wasn’t allowed to hold him, but the next day, her sister asked a nurse if they could hold the baby…

In Winchester, Virginia, 307 miles away from her Wadsworth home, it turns out Pressley’s son was thinking of her too.

He was adopted by the Vossler family and named Greg. They lived in Stow for about seven years after he was adopted, and then moved to Winchester.

“Maybe nine or 10 or somewhere around that age range, they shared with me the story that I was adopted and that the woman who gave me up for adoption thought I could have a better life elsewhere,” said Vossler, who still lives in Winchester.

Vossler said his curiosity wasn’t immediate.

Some years later, he found descriptions of his birth parents that were provided from accounts from the hospital, but there weren’t any names, birth dates, or ages.

“Never was really curious. I’d always joke saying, you know, ‘I don’t see a celebrity that looks like me,’ or, ‘No one who’s a king or queen in some faraway land resembles me.’ And I always said that was just my joke. You know, whenever somebody asked, it was just my way of having that quick response in my back pocket, I’d never really given it some serious thought,” said Vossler.

But he said it was always in the back of his mind through college, getting married, and raising two sons.

“The reason I named my first son Gregory was because he was my first blood relative that I knew. So I wanted to have that bond,” said Vossler.

Then, in 2019, he decided he wanted to know more.

“My wife and I were sitting and talking one night, and I’m like, ‘I don’t know any of my medical history, genetics, you know, where I’m from.’ And there was a 23andMe promotion or something going on. And so I took the test,” said Vossler.

That same year, Melanie’s mom died, which pushed her to do what she’s always wanted to…

But that moment didn’t come until May 2021, when one of Melanie’s daughters bought her a 23andMe test as a birthday gift…

So in June, Vossler, his wife Chelsea, and their sons drove to Wadsworth for a weekend.

Vossler said he and Pressley talked for four hours straight that first day. He also met 17 members of his new extended family, including two of his siblings, his aunts, and his grandfather…

Are you encouraged by this happy ending? Share your comments below!

(Excerpted from WFTS. Originally published at WEWS. Article by Jade Jarvis. Photo Credit: Canva).