It look nearly 50 years for Joyce Tarter to find her siblings.
Her biological father, Pat Kloeckner, had met Joyce’s mother during World War II in California.
Their romance was brief, ending after Joyce’s mother, Florence Madler, learned Kloeckner was already married. About that time Florence also learned she was pregnant with Joyce.
Things turned out all right for Madler, who about a year later met and eventually wed Clinton Forman, who agreed to adopt young Joyce.
It wasn’t until Joyce was about 17 that her mother told her about her paternal heritage, which sparked a 49-year endeavor to find her father and any other blood relatives. She eventually found them in 2009 after a cousin read an obituary for a Val Kloeckner in Montana. Val was Pat Kloeckner’s son.
Through Val Kloeckner’s widow, Joyce eventually found two other siblings, Patty Kloeckner, out of Sonoma, Calif., and Kandy Baker, who lives in Houlka, Miss. (The Register wrote in 2010 about their emotional get-together.)
“We’ve been in touch nonstop on Facebook since then,” Tarter said Wednesday.
Tarter and husband Jim taveled to California once after their first meeting to visit Patty Kleockner, and once to Montana to meet other Kloeckners.
But her siblings had never made it to Iola until Wednesday, when Baker and her husband, David, rolled through town aboard a semitractor-trailer.
The Bakers were hauling a load from back east to Portland, Ore., and knew they had enough time for a layover in Iola.
“My husband was going to try and surprise us,” Kandy said with a laugh. “He tried to call Joyce’s husband to set up a meeting at the truck stop, but he couldn’t find his number, so he just called Joyce.”
The of surprise was irrelevant to Joyce, who eagerly greeted the Bakers when they pulled into the Jump Start parking lot late Tuesday night.
“They showed me a picture of what their truck looked like,” Joyce said. “As soon as I saw it, I was waving at them.”
The Davises shipped out around noon Wednesday, but hope to catch up with the Tarters.
“We go to places like Oregon and Washington state quite frequently,” Kandy said.
David Baker drives for AST out of Jackson, Miss. Kandy rides along as a passenger.
