Area adoptee reunited with long-lost parents

Imagine you’re a young die-hard biker.

Some of those guys you meet at motorcycle runs are old enough to be your dad. What if one of them is, and you don’t know it?

Brad Rosenow of Kimball and Mike Bacon of Stewart have lived that surreal experience.

Rosenow was born Nov. 23, 1981, to Bacon and his then-girlfriend, Ruth Miller. Miller and Bacon were teenagers at the time and gave Brad up for adoption. Twenty-five years later, Rosenow has been reunited with his biological parents.

A firm believer in adoption, he wants to give something back. He and some fellow Victory motorcycle fanatics are heading up a July 21 Adoption Ride to raise money for Catholic Charities’ adoption services.

More on that later, but first let’s go back to 1981, the year Miller and Bacon were faced with a tough decision.

Not ready for parenthood
When Miller — now married and going by the name Ruth Taylor — was 18, she and Bacon conceived a child.

“I was barely able to care for myself,” she recalled. “I didn’t have any of the mothering skills at 18. I was just a little tomboy.”

“Mike and I, we were young and we knew we’d be causing more problems if we tried to fix this by getting married,” she said.

The young couple believed abortion was out of the question.

“I was 17 at the time,” Bacon said. “We were not mature enough, but we were mature enough that abortion never crossed our minds.”

So, they gave the newborn son they named Jeremy up for adoption.

“That was hard,” Bacon said, “but we knew it was the right thing to do.”

To read more about Rosenow's amazing story, see the July 12 Leader print edition.

The First Annual Adoption Motorcycle Ride

What: A fundraiser motorcycle run for Catholic Charities Adoption Services. Freewill donations will be accepted at each stop. Registrations have a chance to win door prizes.

When: 12 p.m., Saturday, July 21

Where: The ride starts at Mies Outland in Watkins, with stops at Rusty’s Riverside Store & Tavern in rural Litchfield, Manannah Hilltop Tavern in Manannah and Bonfire Bar & Grille in Litchfield. The ride ends at Cactus Jack’s in Stewart, with live music and tattoo artists on hand.

Call: Brad Rosenow at (320) 980-2733 or Mike Bacon (320) 583-4765

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)