Abandoned in college laundry room, “Baby Jane Doe” graduates 32 years later from same school
By Dave Andrusko
Jill Sobol (via Facebook).
32 years ago, a student at San Francisco State University, who happened to be “taking a course in newborn care,” found a baby in a box in the laundry room.
“Her body temperature had dropped precipitously and her skin had turned blue,” wrote Bob Collins. “She’s been putting up a fight ever since.”
That fight culminated for Jill Sobol when she graduated last Friday from the same university at which her mother had abandoned her in 1984!
“I know I’m a capable person, but I had difficulties in high school,” Sobol, now 31, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “I had dyslexia, and some ADD (attention deficit disorder) and learning disabilities. I’ve gone to a lot of tutors, and people who taught me learning techniques.”
Sobol’s story of pluck, persistence, and loving adoptive parents will make anyone’s day. Collins writes
Success in school eluded Jillian,
but not because she wasn’t bright. When she read, letters appeared
flipped around, evidence of a learning disability. She suffered from
migraines. At 12, depression settled in. Her adoptive father, who had
graduated from Yale, and mother, a UC Berkeley grad, loved education and
didn’t hesitate to let her try a new school if the old one wasn’t
working.
In all, Jillian attended four high schools, the last a boarding school in Costa Rica for underachieving students.
“Puberty was tough,” Sobol said,
sitting for an interview across the San Francisco State campus from the
tennis courts now on the site where she was born. “I was definitely
different from my parents. They were more reserved. Professionals. I was
more rambunctious.”
Sobol knew she was adopted from her earliest years. But it was not
until she turned 16 that her mother told tell her about the
circumstances surrounding Sobol’s birth, Collins wrote,
“and how she [her birth mother]
must have been very young and scared,” Jillian Sobol said. “I’m not
certain of her actual words. It’s more the feelings of feeling special
and feeling loved.”
Then came the shock: “That
couldn’t be me!” She and her father visited the library and read the old
newspaper articles together. “There was an outpouring of love from the
people who found me, and the people at the hospital. And this army of
people trying to help me and find (the parents). I do feel so grateful
for all of that — and how it led me to my amazing parents and family.”
Having learned last month that some Facebook messages can be hidden from view, she looked to see if she had any.
She found one. It had been sitting, unseen, for nearly two years.
“I have something to tell you,” her biological mother had written. “I’m very proud of you. And thank you for being you.”
The stunning message capped off the years Sobol had spent considering her mother’s predicament.
“That’s a horrible spot to be in
for a woman, where the only choice she had was to abandon her child in a
box,” Sobol said. “I’ve faced it by not letting it dictate my life. The
love and support I’ve been raised with has allowed me to embrace it and
not run from it or be scared by it.”
And then this utterly amazing conclusion:
Joining her at [last Friday’s]
commencement was Esther Raiger, 53, the student who found a baby in a
box in a laundry room. Her biological father was there, too.
Sobol is starting work at an events company in San Francisco.
“I take a lot of pride in San Francisco,” she said of the city that once helped her. Now, “I think they need my help.”
Source: NRLC News
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