This is a picture of my father, Billy Ward, at around 10 years old. I was born in New Orleans in 1957. My family migrated to Louisiana from Oklahoma in the early 1950s. My father was in the U.S. Navy and was assigned to work at the Navy base in Algiers. Much of my dad's family’s history is not known since he was adopted in the state of Oklahoma at birth. When my dad's time in the Navy was up, he decided to stay in Louisiana and started working for the John Brown Oldsmobile dealership in New Orleans. Eventually my father worked his way up and bought one of John Brown's dealerships on the Northshore. We moved to the Northshore when I was 16 years old and I have lived there ever since. My father knew that he was adopted and often expressed that he missed his birth siblings. He was a hard worker and once he moved to New Orleans, he worked to improve his family and became a successful businessman in New Orleans and the Northshore.  
 

– Debbi H

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant