NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — With so many ways to search for information today, people are learning more about their family tree than ever before. One woman has hoped to get some answers for 80 years.
There has never been any doubt in Cookie Collomp's mind that this day would come.
"I'm an optimistic person," she laughed, sitting in the baggage claim at Nashville International Airport. "I figured someday the Lord is going to work this out, and he did!"
Cookie believes good things come to those who wait.
"Yeah, and this was a long wait," she smiled. "I never dreamed it'd be in my 80s!"
Cookie was born in Arkansas, and at 6 months old, she was adopted by a family in Memphis. She's not concerned about why she was placed into adoption. She grew up in a wonderful family and had a great childhood. Of course, there's long been that curiosity.
"Yeah, when I got to be a teenager of course," she remembered.
Does she have family she's never met in the state she was born, or somewhere far from here? Cookie didn't know where to begin in finding them. Her son, Donald, said a day came that Cookie got her birth certificate.
"The state of Arkansas just opened up the records back in 2018; now, here we are," he explained, standing next to his mother in the airport.
Friends helped Cookie in locating family, including a sister flying in from Washington.
"She wanted to meet me, and I wanted to meet her," Cookie said. "I'm 80 years old. I couldn't last too much longer. I've got Parkinson's disease."
Cookie watched dozens of people coming down the escalator at the airport. Where was her sister? A woman finally walked over and gave Cookie a hug.
"Hey, sweet person. I'm so glad to see you," said Cookie.
"You too," said Carolyn Maydole, Cookie's sister. "It's nice to see you, my dear."
"I'm glad y'all are here," Cookie said.
"Well. Me too!" Carolyn laughed.
"She looks so much like my mother; I just knew I would know her," Carolyn said. "I feel sad that we didn't know sooner about Cookie. I really feel like we missed out on a lot. We'll make up for it."
Cookie also has a brother. He wasn't able to make the trip to Nashville due to a recent surgery, but he's planning to meet her in the spring.
