Street roots., August 03, 2018, Page 6, Image 6

Correction
In the June 15 edition of Street Roots, pur
story about the Object Stories exhibition at
the Portland Art Museum incorrectly
referred to working with professional film
crews connected with Outside the Frame.
There were not professional film crews
associated with the exhibit.
Answers to Page 15 Puzzles
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Street Roots • Aug. 3-9, 2018
Vendors
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VENDOR PROFILE
Harry Richards
BY PAT ZIM M ER
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R
T T T e ’ve profiled vendor Harry
l / l / Richards in the past, but this
▼ V reflection looks at a new
development in his life. A couple of months
ago, Street Roots vendor Harry Richards
met his 33-year-old daughter Amanda for
the first time.
Well, it may have been the first time.
Amanda remembers her mom taking her to
Lloyd Center when she was about 8 years
old “to meet her dad.” She walked around
Hie mall for an hour or so with somebody,
but she doesn’t remember much. Then,
when she was 11, Amanda received a letter
she believes was from her biological dad.
Decorated with artwork characteristic of
Harry, it could have been from him. Her
mother took it away and ripped it up.
Amanda was raised by a mother with a
serious mental illness. She married when
Amanda was about 5 and had two more
children, a boy five years younger than
Amanda and a girl seven years younger
than Amanda. Both struggle with mental
illness. Her mother was gone for months at
a time.
Amanda’s mom brushed off her
questions about her biological father,
making up stories about his whereabouts
and saying his family didn’t want to know
her.
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need that, I have myown family,
Amanda said. But the fact was she
really wanted to know. She puzzled J
over the father’s name given her
birth certificate. The name was
not Harry Richards. Who was her
dad? She came to believe her
mom made the name up.
Amanda left home at 18,
married, had two sons, now aged 8 and 11.
She remarried in 2017.
Her new husband, knowing her
questions, gifted her a DNA kit from
23andMe for Christmas. There, she found
one of Harry’s five sisters, Mona, who was
on 23andMe because her husband was
looking for his own birth family. Mona had
already found the twin daughters of one of
Harry’s sisters and another sister.
Amanda met with Mona. They wondered
whether to tell Harry.
“We worried it might have hurt him to
hear the things he missed out on, all the
things that happened to me,” she said.
When they did tell Harry, he didn’t believe
it at first. A paternity test, though, showed
a 99 percent match.
Eventually, Amanda met Harry’s sisters.
Turns out they’d been neighbors once, all
of them living in Hillsboro at one time or
another. “I was pretty sure I’d seen one of
them in the grocery store,” Amanda said.
A couple weeks after Easter, Amanda
met Harry. His sister Diane came along. “It
was kind of awkward,” she said. “What do
you say after 33 years?” They talked about
Harry, his life and his art.
The second time she took her husband
and sons. That was great. “The kids really
adore him,” Amanda said. “The boys have
other grandparents, but they live in
different states. So Harry is really
important to them.”
In fact, “he’s kind of like a big kid
himself,” she said. They went to Oaks Park
for Father’s Day, played the carnival games
and went roller skating. Harry wanted to
go on all the rides. “He was way more into
wanting to do all the things than even the
kids were,” Amanda said. “We had a great
time.”
Their friendship is growing. At first,
Amanda’s dad just wanted her and her kids
to call him “Harry.” But that’s changed.
Now Harry is on board with “Grandpa” and
“Dad.” And while she’s just figuring out
what it means to have a dad, Amanda is
..
excited about this journey. She’s planning
together once a month or so, doing
things and catching up with Harry.
“And now I also have a whole
¡III family - aunts, cousins, I never
M Mknew I had,” she said. “From
peverything I heard growing up, I
thought Harry’s family wanted
nothing to do with me. It’s;
been just the opposite.
Ilk They’ve been really
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welcoming.”
“It’s been an
interesting journey,
and not just for me.”
See Harry
Richards at
Southwest Sixth and
A lder Street.
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by Elizabeth Considine
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