Biography

Cousin of Anna Latham, Leeta Latham, Rachel Latham, Abraham Latham.

Daughter of Jackie Peterson. Stepdaughter of Lee Peterson.

Great-granddaughter of Cause E. Hixon and Alice Mary Ryan.

Aunt of Conner Peterson.

Niece of John Harvey Latham Jr., James Patrick Latham and Robert John Latham.

Scott is charismatic, charming, courteous, polite. When you're talking to him, he looks directly at you. And you're the only person he's focusing on.

On a quiet midweek afternoon in early June 1997, I received a phone call that almost destroyed my life.

I never felt strange, different from, or less loved than other children, and I remember only one occasion where my history had any impact on me. I was in second grade at the time, and the class had been festooned with flags from many countries. We were told to stand under the flag of the country of our ancestors, and of course I had no idea where to go. When I noticed a large crowd under the British flag, I just joined in, and no one objected. There was safety in numbers.

When I went home I told my parents what had happened and asked them if they knew anything about my ancestry. "Well," my father said, "from what I recall, your mother had a little French and English on her mother's side and some German on her father's side."

When I was six years old, my parents told me I was adopted. They explained that my mother, a nice lady, had felt ill equipped to care for me, that they had wanted a little girl just like me, and that they felt very lucky to have found me. I wasn't sure I understood what they meant, but I wasn't at all troubled by it. As far as I was concerned, they were my parents and always would be.