The Gallup NM Independent
November 17, 1972
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MAN HE CITED FOR SPEED
IS OFFICER'S LOST BROTHER
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SHELBYVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Indiana State Trooper
Donald Spurgeon arrested Charles H. Peters of Shelbyville for speeding more than one year ago. This
past week he discovered Peters was a brother he had not been able to locate in
18 years.
Spurgeon was one of 12 children of
Lester and Dorothy Spurgeon of
rural Bartholomew County. In 1954, the father died and Mrs. Spurgeon,
unable to care for the eight sons and four daughters, placed them in foster
homes.
Trooper Spurgeon, then 8 years old, was adopted by a Columbus,
Ind., family. A younger brother, Henry, was adopted by a couple named
Peters who lived in Shelbyville, and they changed his name to Charles Henry
Peters.
Charles knew he was an adopted child, but did not know where the
rest of his brothers and sisters had been placed. The foster parents kept
a scrapbook over the years containing newspaper stories about Trooper Spurgeon,
an outstanding athlete at Columbus High School, and later accounts
of his state police career.
About three months ago, the Peters gave the scrapbook to Charles,
now with a family of his own, and told him Spurgeon was his brother.
Peters, a department manager for a Shelbyville supermarket,
contacted a state trooper in Shelbyville and he and Spurgeon got in
touch by telephone.
Last Sunday, Spurgeon drove to Shelbyville and met his brother.
At the reunion, they realized they had met before, September 9, 1971, when the
traffic citation was issued.
Spurgeon now is helping his brother meet the rest of the brothers
and sisters, all but two of whom have been located.
Contributed by Dave Richey
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