MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. – About 72 years ago, Joseph LaPointe returned to the United States after a stint in Germany, where he had been stationed as a member of the U.S. military.
But a part of him stayed behind.
Fast forward to Friday night. LaPointe is ending the month of January by starting a new chapter — with a son he has not seen in seven decades.
“I’ve thought about this day many times,” LaPointe said, grinning while surrounded by his family.
Sitting next to him on the living room couch, his son flashed a wide smile while holding a beer.
The father and son had many reasons to celebrate Friday night. They were in front of each other for the first time since LaPointe was photographed with his son right before departing Germany.
“I’m...in America...with my dad,” Franz Josef Niederwipper said, using the little English he can speak.
Niederwipper had always wondered about his father, who had never stopped thinking about his son.
“It was part of being in the military,” Tracy Millett, LaPointe’s granddaughter, said, explaining the reason LaPointe had to leave. “And listen, you know, he had a mom. I understand. She wasn’t just going to let her child go.”
LaPointe lost touch with the mother of his first child, and thus, had no knowledge of Niederwipper’s whereabouts in Germany.
Millett told News 6 that throughout her life, her grandfather would tell her about the son he wished to meet.
The LaPointe family had seemingly exhausted all options in trying to find Niederwipper, coming up short with every effort. What they did not know was that Niederwipper’s family was just as vigilant in their own search.
“Twenty years of work and this outcome,” said Susanne Florin, Niederwipper’s daughter. “It’s perfect.”
Florin’s pursuit of her grandfather’s identity also proved fruitless—until an Ancestry DNA match led her to a second cousin, who was able to point her in the direction of LaPointe.
“He’s so glad,” Florin said of her father. “That’s what I wanted. He’s so glad and I really can feel he has changed since he knows that his father always loved him and tried to find him. That’s something that meant a lot to him.”
LaPointe and Niederwipper began messaging last August. A month earlier, LaPointe had learned he was terminally ill. Doctors gave him one year to live.
“It’s just amazing that my grandfather is going to leave this world knowing that he got to put his hands and his eyes physically on his son,” Millett said.
And on Friday, Niederwipper arrived at Orlando International Airport, greeted by the half-brother and half-sister he had never met.
For the next week, LaPointe and Niederwipper will spend their days together. On Sunday, they will celebrate their birthdays — just 10 days apart — together.
And despite the language difference, it was evident Friday that there was hardly a barrier preventing a connection.
“I’m feeling very very excited and happy,” LaPointe said. “I never thought that this would happen — that I would ever see this baby again.”
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