Search for dad leads down twisted path

Making the call
The phone number was in Arizona. Maybe Marshall's father had retired there.

But when Marshall finally reached Eugene D. Sizemore of Phoenix, he found himself speaking to a man his own age. He soon discovered that the man on the phone was Gene Jr., a Vietnam veteran who had moved to Arizona after running a furniture and carpet store in Louisiana, Mo.

Gene Sr. — the man Marshall suspected was his own father — had passed away in 2000.

But Gene Jr. explained that Gene Sr. could not possibly be Marshall’s father. The elder Sizemore had been hospitalized with polio during the spring of 1948.

His mother was working as a nurse’s aide then, Marshall countered. Maybe they met in the hospital.

But Gene Jr. was adamant. His father just wasn’t that type of man. He had lived in the town of Louisiana his entire life. He was married to Gene Jr.’s mother for more than 67 years. He was a prominent local businessman and a Mason.

Finally, Marshall asked if Gene Jr. would be willing to submit a DNA sample.

The answer: Absolutely not.

Genetic harassment?
Marshall hadn’t come this far just to give up. He followed up with several months of letters and more phone calls. He tried to explain why he believed Gene Sr. might be his father.

Gene Jr. felt like he was being stalked. He says Marshall’s calls and letters “border on harassment,” and has steadfastly refused to be tested.

Gene Jr. feels no joy in the possibility that he might have a new relation, only anger and disgust that a man he loved and respected has been besmirched by someone who never knew him.

“There is no reason to submit my DNA for analysis,” he wrote in a January e-mail message. “My father is not Mr. Marshall’s father.”

Once again, Marshall could have given up. But there were too many tantalizing clues, too many coincidences. Gene Sr. had owned a men’s clothing store; Marshall recalled his mother telling him once that his father had been in the clothing business.

Marshall decided to do an end run. He would find a more distant relative of Gene Sr., a cousin who had no personal relationship with the man. Surely there was one person out there who shared a common male ancestor with Gene Sr. and was willing to help Marshall out.

There were two, actually. Both were descendants of John Sizemore Sr., the great-grandfather of Gene Sr. and great-great-grandfather of Gene Jr. If Marshall’s DNA profile was close to theirs, it would be powerful evidence that Gene Sr. was his father.

Marshall had the men send their cheek swabs off in February. When the results came back a few weeks later, the two men matched one another almost perfectly.

But neither matched Marshall.

What next?
It may appear that this is a dead end. Even if Gene Jr. were to submit his DNA — which he still refuses to do — it now seems much less likely that it would match Marshall’s.

But Marshall has come too far, invested too much effort to give up.

“The combination of personal experience and DNA still leaves me at the doorstep of Gene Sizemore Sr. until proven otherwise,” he says.

So there he sits, the unwelcome guest of a man who will not call him brother.

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