Ben Johnson, White House aide, finds daughter after 29-year search

Jet, June 2, 1997

When White House assistant Ben Johnson recently received a telephone can, it wasn't a complaint about racial bias or discrimination.

It was from a long-lost daughter, Nancy.

For 29 years, the man who is deputy director for public liaison at the White House has searched for the child, the product of a high school romance.

His former sweetheart refused to allow him custody of the child and eventually put her up for adoption.

The years have been filled with hits and near misses in his determined search to locate the child somewhere in the vicinity of his home in South Bend IN.

One adoption agency reported in 1970 that Nancy didn't exist. Later he learned about an unnamed child in the area but never was able to gather information about the child.

However, he learned that the couple who adopted his child had died. They had taken care of her, but he never met them and didn't know their names.

Finally, as his hopes began to wane, he received a call from an adoption group wanting to know if he was interested in reaching Nancy. There was but one answer. Yes.

The father of four sons, Ben Johnson never tried to hide his parentage of the child. He told his wife before they were married, and he told his oldest son who is now 25.

News of the reunion of Johnson's entire family in Washington, D.C. -- planned for Father's Day -- brought ripples of joy throughout his household. Nancy has her own surprise -- a 3-year-old daughter, Kelsie.

Thus, Johnson is a grandfather. His White House office now will be adorned by a picture of Nancy and her daughter. Said Johnson, "How can a father be better blessed?"