A Graphic Short Saga Based on a True Story

Panel 1 June 11, 1935. George's mother's wake

Panel 2, New Year's Day 1936 Family Dinner

Panel 3. January 26, 2019 Eva Casey, retiree, comes to grips with a newfound half brother

Panel 4. January 27, 2019 Eva Casey and Ed Luedke, half siblings, make telephone contact
Panel 5. The essential points on Ed's original birth certificate from Cook County, except his mother's name has been changed to protect her privacy. Note that Esther named her son George.


Combined 2021 Valentine/Birthday card to Ed:

Eva's card to Ed on his 85th birthday, panel 1: Valentines's Day 1936. George and Esther, in different parts of the City.

Eva's card to Ed on his 85th birthday, panel 2: Mr. and Mrs. Luedke anticipate Ed's arrival

Combined 2022 President's Day/Birthday Card to Ed:

Eva's card to Ed on his 86th birthday, panel 1: Esther alone in church thinking about her firstborn.

Eva's card to Ed on his 86th birthday, panel 2: The Clause family singing Happy Birthday, George every Feb. 22


On Feb. 18, 2026 Ed celebrated his 90th birthday. This extension of Ed's DNA Saga marks that milestone:

Discovering Ed's mother's side. A candidate for her obituary is found

From the web: info about Esther's parents and siblings AND married names of Esther and her sisters, which confirms that this Esther Thoreson is the one in the obituary who married L. Clause

Ed encounters a Ms. Searing on 23&Me who is a descendant of Esther's sister Hazel Thoreson Searing. This cousin provides Ed with the email addresses of her first cousins twice removed, Esthers's daughters Linda and Roberta (Bobbi), AND she sends Ed the first photo he's ever seen of his mother, taken in 1962.

Ed phones Linda, after emailing her his purpose. Linda is skeptical that her mother is the same Esther Thoreson as his mother.


Linda and Roberta (Bobbi, who has profiles with surnamea Skrip and also Ischinger) are both on Facebook. Bobbi posted there the wedding picture of her beloved late parents Esther and Louis. That photo and also the one gifted to Ed by his DNA cousin Ms. Searing are replicated


A video of Ed talking about sea otters taken by Eva October 11, 2019.
A video of Ed in the Cooper living room taken by MaryDan October 13, 2019.

Ed in 2019 looking remarkably like his DNA father George in 1965
Ed in 2019 looks like George in 1965

Ed with Eva 2019 Ed with MaryDan 2019
new-found half-siblings Ed and Eva half-sibs Ed and MaryDan


In October 2021, Eva Casey, MaryDan and Bob Cooper, and Ezra Cooper, visited Ed at his lovely lakeside home in Southern California. We walked Laguna Beach. We went to the Symphony. Ed took us for a spin on his pontoon boat. Ed's daughter Karen, her husband Gil, and one of their sons came over for dinner. Ed's lovely neighbor Marie joined us.

Ed with Ezra at the SNA airport Ed with Eva 2019
Ezra: I had no expectations, but it's been great.
Ed:You had low expectations?


In 2024 Eva hosted a cousins' gathering. Guess who came to dinner? To everyone's delight Ed joined us for the weekend! In 2025 Ed was near Seattle and had dinner twice with Ezra.
Kathy Drumm McCann, Marie Drumm, Ed Luedke, Marion Guinan Molloy Ed and Ezra dining in a Seattle restaurant in September 2025
Return to:

George R. Casey's Memorial Page
Ed's son's Memorial Page Ed's son is named Ed too, but he has a different middle name, so he's not Ed. Jr.
Eva's 2019 Christmas Card which mentions meeting Ed, her new-found half-brother.

Massachusetts 2018
Massachusetts 2015-2017
Massachusetts 2014
Massachusetts 2013
Massachusetts 2012
Massachusetts 2011
Massachusetts 2010
Birding Nantucket for awhile there,annually at New Year's

Birding France 2019
Birding Phoenix 2018
Birding San Diego, Tecate MX, and the Salton Sea 2017
Birding Ireland 2016
Birding Montana, Wyoming and northern Utah 2015
Birding Hawaii 2012
Birding Arizona 2010
Birding Utah 2009
Birding Guatemala 2008
Birding Kansas 2008
Birding Mexico 2007
Birding Florida 2006
Birding Texas 2005
Birding Panama 2005
Birding Belize 2002
Birding Colorado 2001
Birding Ecuador 1999
Birding Trinidad 1998
Birding Peru June 1995

2018 Christmas Card

Sketches of birds and other animals made at the Harvard Museum of Natural History from stuffed models.

Herman's Birding Page

Herman's Home Page
Eva's Home Page

Feedback may be sent to evacasey@rcn.com
This page has been accessed access odometer display times since October 5, 2019 

Last revised: March 6, 2026