Update on Petrina Kilborn Bexfield and Marge Bexfield - written 12/27/08 by Bill Kilborn

Just a few days ago, on Christmas Eve 2008, the little voice within told me to do another search for my daughter on Google and I always follow hunches like that. This search turned up a newsletter from the Greenville Eastside Kiwanis Club dated October 17th, 2007. It contained an article titled Greenville-Eastside Brightens Lives Through Baseball. The complete newsletter is HERE as it is displayed on the Carolina Kiwanis website.

The short article is as follows verbatim:

"Greenville Eastside Kiwanis Club sponsors and volunteers for the Mauldin Miracle League - a baseball opportunity for special needs children. The mother and daughter family pictured here are the family Kiwanis helped build the ramp for (pictured in last week's CD news). Petrina and Marge Bexfield rent a small home and could not get a ramp built by anyone and Kiwanis got it done!"

Congratulations to the Kiwanis for doing this wonderful deed for my daughter and granddaughter. Now if I could only be a part of their lives.

This was the first indication in a long time I have had of any activity concerning my daughter, Petrina and my granddaughter, Marge. There was a picture on the first page of the newsletter (now on the front page of this website) that was the first I have seen since they left. What a wonderful Christmas present for me!

Notice there is no mention of Danny here at all, only mentioning a "mother and daughter family," so I don't know what the status of the marriage is at this time.

I sent an email that same day to two contacts for the Mauldin Miracle League and followed by a phone call to one of them,(names withheld) and told him the story. The first email is as follows:

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***** and/or *****,

I got your names from the website for the Mauldin Miracle League and have also placed a call to ***** today. I talked to someone at the Parks and Rec. Dept in Mauldin and they recommended I do so.

What led me to you was a Kiwanis newsletter from October 17, 2007 describing the building of a handicapped ramp for a mother and daughter family, Petrina and Marge Bexfield. Petrina Bexfield is my daughter who I have had no contact with in almost 7 years and didn't even know my granddaughter was still alive as she was very ill when they left Melbourne, Florida. The circumstances of them leaving were very mysterious and it was, due to many signs, obviously a panic move. There were no family problems of any sort when they left, yet they have elected to have no further contact with family or friends at all. The authorities will do nothing since there is no evidence of criminal activity even though it has been proved that her husband (at that time anyway) was a petty thief.

You can find complete details of this family at www.journey1.net/missing.

I assure you there were no problems between my daughter, Petrina, and myself when they left and they promised contact. They even lied about several things concerning the move and left with a one day notice for a "new job" which did not exist. I want to re-establish contact with my daughter as this is the only family I have and, at 71 years old, this would be the greatest Christmas present I could have. She probably does not know I no longer live in Melbourne.

You don't know me and I wouldn't expect you to share contact for Petrina with me but I would consider it a great favor if you could somehow get in touch with her and give her my contact information and ask her to contact me. I can assure her that I will share that with no one if that's what she wants. If you can contact her or get someone else to do so please let me know what transpires. If nothing else I would love to know what happened and why she hasn't tried to contact me or any family or friends.

I am still actively engaged in my profession here in North Florida so my full contact information is in the signature line below.

Hope to hear back from you.

Thanks,

Bill Kilborn

Full contact details were included

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This person seemed sympathetic to my plea during the phone call and said he would check into this. Note that I specifically did not ask for contact information on Petrina as I know he could not give that out. I only asked him to relay my information and let me know what transpired. Later in the day 12/24/08 the following short email came in:

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Mr. Kilborn,

I regret that I cannot help you in this situation.

***** *****

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Very terse and evasive! I then immediately sent off the following:

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Can you give me any type of explanation? I am at a complete loss in knowing what may have happened. Petrina and Marge are the only family I have and I have absolutely no idea what may be going on.

Please......

Bill Kilborn

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And shortly after received this answer:

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Mr. Kilborn,

It is our League’s policy to protect the confidentiality of all of our participants personal and or medical information. As we receive requests from known and unknown sources we will contact the participant and simply give them the information we have received. We then remove ourselves from the scenario. We are a Non-Profit organization and we must protect the integrity of the entire program over any one individuals wishes. Even though a person’s request may be very compelling for us to fulfill we must stand fast on our policy for the ongoing benefit of the 90 + children in our program.

***** *****

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To which I replied:

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Mr. *****,

I am not asking for you to release any confidential information. I would take the same stance in your position. I sincerely hope you have done or will do what I have asked of you. That is to somehow get the contact information for me in the hands of Petrina Bexfield, explain that I am requesting contact and there is no animosity or problems at my end with the way she left her family hanging with no contact for 7 years. I don't even ask why she left the way she did and would welcome any type of contact with open arms and love. I just want her to know I have been looking for the entire time she's been gone and will not stop till some contact is made. Obviously I speak for myself and not anyone else among her family or friends that are still in the Melbourne area. I am no longer in that area, have had very limited contact with those that are and they have no idea that I found this article about her and my granddaughter.

I will be coming to the Greenville area sometime during the next year and she should not be too hard to find. It would be much nicer to have some sort of contact first.

You can probably imagine how elated I was when I came across the article this morning. I had no idea my granddaughter was still alive and functioning as well as she seems to be. This has made my Christmas one of the happiest ever.

I commend you for sticking to the confidentiality of your organization as it should be and certainly hold nothing against you. I only ask you, or someone else that would do so, to please get my contact information to Petrina and let her make the decision to contact me or not. Maybe I could be more understanding of her position if I only knew what that position was! It's been a very difficult 7 years not knowing.

Thanks for a bit of your valuable time and I sincerely thank you for doing what you do for children like my granddaughter, Marge Bexfield.

Bill Kilborn

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The last email above has not been answered.

Notice at no time did I ask for confidential information to be released and, yet, the only answer I get is a run-around as to what they, obviously, cannot do!

What is going on here? All I'm asking for is someone to get in touch with my daughter, Petrina, and let her know I'm looking for her and give her my contact information. If she then does not want to contact me I would very much appreciate knowing why. What are the reasons for this? Is there something I did? Is there something she thinks I did? There were no problems between us when she made this panic move from Melbourne to Greenville. Why has she decided to not be a part of a loving family any longer? Yes, I am divorced from her mother and she was rather upset about this at first, even though she was married and 32 years old at the time. But this was almost 4 years before she left. The divorce was by mutual agreement and we are still friends to this day. Petrina came to me a couple years after the divorce and apologized for being so upset with me and even stated that she understood that her mother and I had not been close for many years and knew divorce was best for both of us. We even celebrated several holidays together as a family and all had a good time.

I am at a complete loss as to what has happened here. Petrina and Marge are my only blood relatives in the world, other than a few cousins that are nowhere around here. I am only wanting contact and hold no animosity towards anyone. I have a lovely granddaughter and don't care that she has special needs. She is still my granddaughter and I want to know what's going on in her life, same with my daughter. I believe that grandparents do have rights!

Bill Kilborn
PO Box 1893
Trenton, FL 32693
352-463-9318
Cell 352-363-0637
bill@journeyi.net