Literally.

by MattG, Thursday, December 05, 2013, 15:26 (4504 days ago) @ Slainte Joe
edited by MattG, Friday, December 06, 2013, 04:50

Movie spoilers? I guess?

I only met Michael once, in 1989, in DC. He was chief White House counsel in the GHWB administration, (or something like that) and he got us ALL the best DC tours. I met like 30 Senators and congressmen. I rode some underground congressional 2-seat tram thing with Jesse Helms.

(Only today do I appreciate the irony of riding an Underground Railroad with Sen. Helms. In my defense, I was 12 or so. 5 years later I would have been ALL OVER that.)

My mom knew Michael was gay, but her family kind of denied/ignored that, and he was very closeted. I mean, it was the Eighties and he was a GOP lawyer in the bush administration.

He died of "heart problems" in 1995, when I was at ND. My mom told me flat-out what had really happened.

A few years later, Mr Sexsmith contacted the family on Philomena's behalf, and they looked for confirmation/clues in Marge's journals.

Back in 1952, Marge had gone to Ireland to adopt an orphan. I don't think anyone put it together that the girls working at the orphanage were the ACTUAL MOTHERS. She wanted a girl- and found one- but Michael (born Anthony) kissed Mary on the cheek as they were leaving and Marge decided to adopt them both.

Philomena was 18 when she had Anthony, and when she'd started to show her parents sent her to the convent. In exchange for being allowed to stay there, the girls had to pay £100, which she didn't have - or stay for three years and work in the laundry or some such. They also had to sign a document stating that the kids could be sent to live with a more suitable family at any time. (A contract signed on pain of eternal damnation, of course.)

The Irish Church was, in short, selling these kids to wealthy Americans. They'd market through parishes in the US - priests would tell US families that there were needy Irish kids they could help. (Of course, there's the matter of the £1500 fee.)

One day Philomena gets back from work in the laundry and the nuns say "Welp, we sent your 3 year old to America. You signed the contract, right? You may never tell anyone that any of this transpired."

For years, Philomena was begging the nuns to tell her where her boy went. They would not. She got married and had more kids.

In the Eighties, Michael went back to Ireland, found the orphanage, and asked the nuns about his mother. They wouldn't say a word. Even though Philomena lived a mile or two away.

In the Nineties, when Michael knew he was dying, he went back and asked if he could be buried at the convent. His grave marker is basically a set of clues to help Philomena find him if she ever wanted to.

Martin Sixsmith traveled continents looking for Anthony Lee/Michael Hess, and he and Philomena Lee found Michael's grave just down the road from her house, a couple years after he died.

Anyway, my mom and grandma are going to this movie opening night.