Finding Father Fahter Of Five Meets His Dad For First Time

Four years ago, Michelle Matlock asked her husband, Shawn, what he wanted for Father’s Day.

“I said, ‘I want to know and meet my dad,”’ said Shawn, 30, a chef at Mattie’s Restaurant in Spokane.

His Father’s Day wish came true last October, with a lot of help from Michelle and a little help from TV personality Kathleen Sullivan. The surprise reunion took place during a taping of a pilot for a proposed talk show. Under the glare of TV lights, everybody was sobbing their eyes out: father, son, camera operators and studio audience.

To better understand the intensity of the moment, it first helps to understand why this seemed to be such an unattainable goal.

When Shawn made that Father’s Day request, he had never met his father, never spoken to him and didn’t even know if he was alive. He had little to go on except a name on his birth certificate, “Guy Matlock.”

A little more than 30 years ago, Shawn’s father and mother, Nancy Bundy, pulled what could almost be described as a Romeo and Julietstyle elopement. She was only 20; Guy was a few years older. Her parents did not approve of Guy. It didn’t matter to the two young lovers. After only three or four dates, they got married and ran off to California. He got a job as horse trainer.

The bloom wore off the romance quickly. Only a few months later, Nancy declared defeat and went back home to mom and dad. She was already pregnant.

Guy kept calling her at home, but her parents would not allow the calls to go through. Then, one day, she managed to get a call through to Guy in California. It was an extremely important call.

She was calling from the hospital, where she had just given birth to a boy named Shawn. And that’s all that Guy knew about his son for more than a quarter-century.

The divorce went through soon after the baby was born, and Shawn’s mother soon got remarried to a man named Gary. Gary became a father figure to Shawn; in fact, Shawn grew up thinking that Gary was his real dad.

Then, when Shawn turned 13, his mom and Gary went through a divorce. Shawn remembers asking his mom why he wasn’t included in the custody proceedings. That’s when the truth came out.

“She came into my room and said, ‘Gary isn’t your real father,”’ said Shawn. “It was devastating. It was like something getting yanked out from underneath me.”

At the time, he didn’t even ask the obvious question: If Gary wasn’t his father, who was? “I kept it under my collar,” said Shawn. “There was a lot of embarrassment.”

However, as Shawn grew into manhood, he became more and more curious about his father. His mother was not able to tell him much. Still, when he was around 20, he changed his name from his stepfather’s name, which he had used all his life, to his real name, Matlock.

Also, he had become the father of four himself (with a fifth yet to come), and the idea of fatherhood seemed more and more important.

And then he expressed that Father’s Day wish to Michelle.

She got right on the case, without Shawn knowing.

After a lot of sleuthing, she learned enough details about Guy to guess where to start looking. She knew he grew up in Pendleton, Ore., so she called some Matlocks there. Eventually, she found a relative who thought maybe he was working at a horse track in California. She called directory assistance, and landed a Guy Matlock.

“I took a deep breath and dialed the number,” said Michelle. “I was so scared of what his reaction would be.”

Guy’s wife Trudi (he had also remarried) answered the phone. Michelle nervously explained why she was calling. Guy’s wife ran to get Guy, who was out tending his horses, and Michelle called into the back yard for Shawn.

“I said, ‘Here’s an early Father’s Day present for you,”’ she said.

It was a tremendously emotional long-distance experience for both father and son. There was a lot of conversation, and a lot of tears.

“What do you say after all those years?” said Shawn. “I said I really wanted to meet him.”

They exchanged pictures and letters, and talked to each other on the phone a number times. But because of circumstances, they were not able to meet.

Which is why Michelle started contacting TV talk shows. She had seen shows on the theme of father-son reunions, and she thought maybe one of these shows would help. Finally, she got a call from a producer for a pilot talk show hosted by Kathleen Sullivan.

The producers agreed to bring Guy and Shawn Matlock together in the studio during the taping of the pilot show. Neither Shawn nor Guy knew the true reason for their appearance on the show. Michelle told Shawn they were to appear on a segment about young parents with lots of kids, and Guy was told he and his wife were in the running for a Hawaiian vacation.

Only when they were both led onto the set, in front of a studio audience, did Michelle say to Shawn, “I want to introduce you to your dad.”

“Tears were flowing,” remembers Michelle. “Everyone was crying, the producers, the audience, Kathleen Sullivan.”

“I couldn’t say anything,” said Shawn. “We just stared into each other’s eyes. Sobbing and staring.”

Later, after the show, the TV producers treated them all to dinner and a visit to Universal Studios, where they got to know each other under more relaxing conditions. They spent a few days together, and are counting on many more.

That “Kathleen Sullivan” pilot show has yet to be aired, but it doesn’t matter to Shawn.

What matters is that, on Father’s Day, Shawn finally has a father to give a present to. As for Guy, he already received one of the best Father’s Day presents ever.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo