Alyssa Ridenour
reporter@greenepublishing.com
Bob Bezick, a resident of Madison, describes his story as "an amazing discovery channel." He states that he's just your typical local man. Bezick has three kids who are now adults: Brittany, Brooke and Dustin. He is retired from working in pharmaceuticals where he met his loving wife, Linda Fisher-Bezick.
However, his family withheld secrets that would later blow his mind. Bezick knew of his sister, Sandra Przybyszewski, and his brother, Kevin Przybyszewski, but was completely unaware of the presence of another sibling residing in Germany. Bezick and his parents moved to the United States when he was just a boy. Bezick was already a U.S. citizen since he was born on a military base and his father was a soldier. However, there was more history than that.
About 18 months before Bezick was born, his mother had a daughter, Rosemary Hölzlein (Pusch). Sadly, his mother was unmarried at the time and it was speculated that the father of Rosemary may have been married to another woman. The pregnancy occurred back in the 50's and times were different back then than they are now. "It was the 50's," Bezick said. "For a single woman to get pregnant back then. It's different than today. Getting pregnant outside of wedlock meant she would have to put up with endless ridicule and torment from people all over town. So, she decided to leave Rosemary with her mother and start another life without her. She moved to the United States after getting married and having a son, Bob Bezick. She never mentioned to Bezick that she had another child back in Germany. "I can't hold a grudge against her, I didn't walk in her shoes."
Bezick's heartwarming story of reunion began in 2005, when he welcomed a German exchange student into his home. Later that same year, his mother passed away. In 2012, he is still connected to his old exchange student, Kristoff Schacht, and asks him to be his interpreter when he comes to Germany to meet his daughter, Brittany, at the end of her trip across Europe. While there, he visits the German side of his family before making his way back to the United States.
Bezick visited Germany again in 2017, with Schacht as his interpreter. They sat down with Bezick's cousin, Willie, to flip through some old family photos. At that time, he believed Rosemary Pusch to be his cousin. When Willie flipped to the next picture, he pointed and said, "and look, there's your sister." Bezick corrected him, only for Willie to insist that Pusch is, in fact, his sister. However, he knew nothing of it. Afterwards, he immediately wanted to go meet his sister but they arrived at her residence too late. They had just missed her leaving for vacation.
Bezick returned to Germany again in 2019 in hopes of meeting his sister. Upon arrival, she expressed that she felt they had abandoned her. Bezick explains, "She had a harder time with it than I did because I didn't know about her, but here, she knew about me." She thought the American side of her family knew about her all along and chose not to make contact with her. Bezick goes on to explain further, saying, "It was a hardship on her, thinking that we, the Americans in the family, had abandoned her." After some explaining, Bezick was able to convince her that he had no idea she was his sister and did not abandon her. With that, a beautiful relationship blossomed between siblings and after 60 years apart, they were finally reunited.