At first, Charles Fearon didn’t believe a word of what he was hearing during a phone call earlier last month.

Fearon, 58, of Raymond, whose friends call him Chuck, said the stranger on the other end of the phone claimed they were brothers separated by six decades, 851 miles and the country’s arcane adoption rules.

“I was skeptical for a few days,” said Fearon.

At first Fearon said he thought the man on the phone, John Wilson, 53, of Greensboro, N.C., had the wrong guy or was trying to con him. His skepticism started to drain away when he was read the document number of his birth certificate and the name “Myles” was brought up.

Fearon’s last name was Myles until he was adopted at age seven.

No observer could doubt the kinship of the two men when they both walked into the Eagles Club of Windham last Saturday and Wilson took off his hat and glasses. The two strangers looked like bookends.

At the same meeting, Fearon also met two other siblings. Sister Margaret Toone, 60, of Fair Lawn New Jersey and half-brother Joe Micelli, 66, of Warren, Pennsylvania also came to Windham to meet their brother for the first time.

“They are the nicest bunch of people,” said Fearon’s wife Jackie. They greeted the long-lost relatives with a limo ride from the Portland International Jetport and a dinner of lobster, fillet mignon and champagne.

Bill Toone said his wife celebrated her birthday on the Thursday before the meeting. Toone said the couple had always known Micelli, but added his wife had never met her two other brothers until this weekend, though she had spoken to Wilson on the phone several times since Wilson found her in 2004.

“She said, I want to see my brother for my birthday,” Bill Toone said.

“It’s almost surreal. I still can’t believe that we found him,” said Margaret Toone. “This is my best birthday.”

Margaret Toone was born to Catherine Fay and Charles Myles in New York, but she was brought up in her maternal grandmother’s house in New York, though her mother continued to be a presence in her life.

Micelli, who has a different father from his other three siblings, was put in a boys’ home, but would come to grandmother’s house on holidays and see his sister and his mother, who died less than a year ago.

Fearon, Wilson and at least two other children were put up for adoption. One of the children was named Patricia Myles, and she was born on Jan. 1, 1951. The family has not been able to find either Patricia or the unnamed sibling as of yet.

Toone said she was given pictures of her siblings when she was young and kept them in a jewelry box. After it was stolen, she only had the photo she kept in her purse. It showed her and Micelli with a young Fearon.

Fearon, who was raised by his adoptive parents in New York, said he grew up believing his birth parents died in a car accident.

Wilson said he always thought he was adopted because his short stature and dark hair didn’t match his family of tall blonds. On Labor Day of 2004, he cornered his aunt and asked her if he was adopted.

“Yes, didn’t you know?” she said.

Wilson enlisted the help of Catholic Charities and has been finding family members ever since. He says there are still more out there.

Wilson said he has been blocked by a great many privacy laws, and was given the wrong birth year for Fearon. After he learned the correct year, he found him in about six hours.

“I called him up and said, ‘You may find this hard to believe, but I’m your long-lost brother’,” said Wilson.

“The more we learn about each other, the more we find we have in common,” said Wilson. Fearon said the siblings were up talking until 4:30 a.m. after Wilson landed in Maine.

Not all of Wilson, Fearon and Toone’s siblings were placed with the New York Founding Home adoption service, so locating more family members will become more difficult.

“This is just the beginning of the search,” said Wilson.

LR Brother 0013: Long-lost brothers Chuck Fearon of Naples and John Wilson of Greensboro, North Carolina met last weekend for the first time. In the background are sister Margaret Toone, of Fairmont New Jersey and half brother Joe Micelli, 66, of Warren, Pennsylvania.LR Brother 0015 Meeting for the first time are long-lost siblings Chuck Fearon of Naples, Margaret Toone, of Fairmont New Jersey, and John Wilson of Greensboro, North Carolina. Chuck and Wilson were put up for adoption as children and only recently located one another.Meeting for the first time are long-lost siblings Chuck Fearon of Raymond, Margaret Toone, of Fairmont New Jersey, and John Wilson of Greensboro, North Carolina. Chuck and Wilson were put up for adoption as children and only recently located one another.

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