I was born out of wedlock and was adopted, but remained in the family and met my biological families as an adult. My adoptive parents were Carmon Bernard Key and wife Margaret Annetta Key (Young).  Many of the Key family, starting with my grandparents Will and Violet Key (Wooten) profiles are also on this website. I grew up in Michigan (as an only child).

My biological parents were Joseph Albert Veger and Donna Baker Alvarado (never married), from Indiana.  Donna's half-brother Donald Huffman was married to Thelma Doris Key. Thelma's brother was Carmon Bernard Key, who married Margaret Annetta Young. Carmon and Margaret were the ones who adopted and raised me. (Hence my two maiden names...Key and Baker.)

I was married twice, and divorced twice. First to Timothy Mark Carr, deceased; and then to Gregory Allen Cataline. I had three boys: two with Carr, one with Cataline. As of right now (2015), I have 5 grandchildren and 1 great-grandchild. (UPDATE 12-2-21: NOW I have 6 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.)

I have a Facebook page where I have relayed many stories and made them "public" so you don't have to be on my "friend's" list to read them.    www.facebook.com/deb.cataline

The genealogies I have done and put on here also have copies of hard-to-find documents on here for various ancestors, but I have no idea how YOU can get to them to see them! I haven't figured out how that works. Maybe you can.

Ok. I figured it out. If you are not even a free basic member of Geni, you cannot view the attached photos and documents to a profile. If you have a basic Geni:

WHILE YOU ARE LOGGED OUT, do a free public search on Geni for a profile. While you have that profile on your screen, NOW log in. You will have that same profile on your screen after logging in. NOW you can see the other tabs, like photos and media, whereby you can click on those tabs and see the attachments.

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Did you know?......

What was MY "claim to fame", talents, etc? (Besides high intelligence, pursued by Mensa [truth] - or being a "smart-ass" as some may say?)  Lol

I was an artist! Yep...I can draw and paint. Or could, before my hands and fingers were inhabited by our friend arthritis.  Lol. I was best at doing portraits. There are a few of my "masterpieces" still gathering dust in some boxes around my house.  Lol. (My son Marc inherited that particular creative talent.)

And, as I mentioned previously, I became "slightly" outgoing for a while in high school by becoming a baton twirling, freezing my butt in the winter on the football field, majorette. (Jeez, can I be talked into just about anything or what?)

I relay many stories from my first marriage (probably the most colorful, and the earliest so I remember more), and it lasted the longest. That is not to say, though, that my SECOND marriage, although short, did not contain its fair share!

Although I worked in law my whole life as a paralegal (initially trained by Carr cousin Attorney David Wallis), I jump from the music industry in my first marriage (life) to AUTO RACING in my second! Yep! Many a night staying up all night long working on our race car in the garage!  Pro-stock car. And it was/is a Cataline family affair!

There is another nutshell for ya! Hah!

And....postscript....what do I do in my retirement, single, old age? Well, you're readin' it!  😀

• ************** Here it is:

Ok....my biological parents are Joseph Albert Veger and Donna Rae Alvarado (Baker). They were never married. They all lived, and still do, in Indiana.

When Donna Baker found out she was pregnant at the age of 17, she tried to marry Joseph Veger. His parents forbade it. (They were Hungarian.) Donna got upset and ran away to an unwed mother's home in Chicago, IL. She was going to put me up for adoption there. (Donna Baker herself told me this.)

In the meantime, my grandfather Raymond Baker (who was close friends with Carmon Key's parents), went looking for her. He found her JUST as I was born and forbade her to put me up for adoption.

Carmon Key's sister, Thelma Doris Huffman (Key) was married to Donna Baker's half-brother Don Huffman. She knew that Carmon and Margaret Key couldn't have kids, so SHE suggested to grandpa Baker that I be given to the Keys to raise (private adoption.) That way, I stayed in the family and Grandpa Baker would always be in touch with me. And he did stay in touch!

He agreed, but he told his daughter Donna that if she did this, she was to NEVER contact me nor get in touch. He kept control over the whole situation.

So (and I have pics), Carmon and Margaret Key, and Doris and Don Huffman, went with Grandpa Baker up to the Salvation Army Hospital in Chicago to pick up Donna and the baby (i.e. me.) I was 2 weeks old. Carmon and Margaret waited in the car.

When Donna Baker carried me out, she handed me over to Carmon and Margaret.

On my friend's list, you will see Veger names. Those are my half-siblings on my father's side.

One half-sister, Vicki, is on my list, too. She is my mother's youngest daughter. The other children of hers won't speak to me for some reason. I understand that my mother passed away without ever fully telling her kids about me.

My FATHER, though, Joseph Veger, looked for me always!

I guess he kept going to the Bakers trying to find out where his child went, what gender I was, etc. but since he wasn't allowed to marry Donna, the Bakers froze him out until I was an adult. When I was about 19 or a little older, Carmon Key's sister, Doris, found him, went to see him, filled him in, and gave him pics. BUT she wouldn't tell him exactly where I was, etc. My father passed away a year before I was finally reunited with his children, the Vegers. They welcomed me with open arms!

Carmon Key told me years later that they had no idea that my biological father spent his life looking for me. He was really upset about it. For all they knew, my biological father had zero interest in me. He was really upset. Because Carmon and Margaret had always allowed continued contact with my biological family.....I just didn't know it. I told him it was ok.

The Bakers....Grandpa Baker. ...was doing what he thought was best, I assume. I am not sure it WAS best, because my father DID want me! Desperately. But.....it was what it was!

Anyway, my cousin, Donna Simons, daughter of Doris and Don Huffman, is not only my adopted cousin, she is also my biological cousin! Lol

It really was amazing how they got even the children to keep it all a secret.

Fascinating, huh?

I was 5 years old before the adoption was finalized, due to Margaret Key's mental disease (schizophrenia.) I went to Court with Margaret Key and my Grandma Violet Key when the adoption was finalized. I remember that day.