A tearful meeting after a 67-year wait

WARWICK, RI ( WPRI) - Rhode Island native Joe DiNocco was all smiles when he got his first ever glimpse of his family members at T.F. Green airport but then he melted down into tears.

The Florida resident's biological history was a mystery until a change in Rhode Island law that went on the books in July, allowed him to discover new branches on his family tree that now includes eight siblings the 67-year-old never knew he had. Sadly, four of them are no longer living.

DiNocco could not afford to travel to Rhode Island for a reunion but after showing a recent Street Story to Southwest Airlines, the company provided him with free round trip tickets.

DiNocco's biological mother Mary Andreano gave birth to her youngest child when she was 17 years old. Her parents would not let her keep the baby but she did have time to name him Joe. The birth certificate was not available to DiNocco until the day the law went into effect.

“She told us about him but keeping a child (born out of wedlock) was just not done back then,” his half sister Trish Lambert said. “We spent a long, long time looking for him.”

His daugther Rhonda Correll, Swansea, Massachusetts, helped him re-energize his search and within days, DiNocco gave Lambert the surprise voice message of her life. Then, the trio started brain storming about a how to get him home again to meet all the members of his newly found family.

DiNocco has also reached out to his father’s side of the family and discovered that Manny Vincent had 4 other children. In a strange twist, Joe found out he actually worked with Manny Vincent Jr. when they were employed by the City of Providence. He now knows Vincent was his half brother.

Rhode Island is one of three New England states that recently changed their laws regarding adoptee birth certificates, joining Maine and New Hampshire.

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