Finding His Father Completes a Chord

“In Finding Father, He Solved a Musical Mystery” (July 25), about Whittier’s Mayor Allan Zolnekoff learning that his father was jazz bassist Red Mitchell, brought to mind the many times I was fortunate enough to hear Mitchell play in the 1950s. He played at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach and The Hague in L.A. He often played with Hampton Hawes, Art Pepper and Gerry Mulligan. Mitchell’s solos were beautiful, lyrical creations with a great depth of feeling.

Zolnekoff is lucky he found his father and his music.

Theron Wyatt

Whittier

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As an adoptee and new natural mother, I can relate to Zolnekoff’s story. Adoption separated me from my natural family for over 34 years. Like Zolnekoff, I feared rejection from my mother.

Zolnekoff told his mother that the decision to put him up for adoption was the right one. I no more wanted to thank my mother for giving up the right to raise me than I want my son to tell me one day that he wishes I’d given him to someone else. Only after I became a mother myself did I realize the strong bond that mothers develop while their children are in the womb. I have talked with many mothers who have lost their children to adoption, and I’ve yet to meet one who doesn’t in some way regret her decision. A tragedy occurs in all adoptions, that of breaking the mother-and-child bond.

Tricia Shore

Van Nuys