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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