Surprising results of DNA test connect woman with her dad
For 35 years, Tiffany Dow thought her dad was her mom’s high school boyfriend, a blonde, blue-eyed man who left before she was born.
Dow always thought it was odd that her mom, also blonde and blue-eyed, would give birth to a dark-haired, dark-eyed baby who looked different from everyone in the family — but she left it at that.
That is, until this Christmas, when her boyfriend bought her a DNA test as a present. She expected the results to show a diverse ancestry. It instead revealed she’s half Armenian.
“I called my mom. I didn’t think she was lying, but I was in shock.”
Her mom asked if she could come over to her house later to talk.
“I said, ‘No, we’re not doing this. You’re telling me now.’ “
So she told Dow who she suspected was her biological father, a man named Doug Davidian from Fresno, California. She said he had a beard, a light blue van and was on a road trip across the U.S. when they met in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1971.
Dow searched for Davidian online and found his LinkedIn profile within minutes. She waited until the next morning to call. Davidian answered the phone.
The start of that exchange, as Dow recalls it:
“Hi, Doug, do you have a minute?”
“Well, sure.”
“Well, good, my name is Tiffany. Have you ever been to Missouri?’”
Davidian said he had, on a road trip in the 1970s. Dow proceeded to tell him the story about her DNA test and how his name “came up.”
Davidian then called Dow’s mother to help jog his memory, and the pair decided Davidian was likely Dow’s father.
Davidian and Dow became sure of it as they talked more later that night. Their resemblance in personality and appearance was striking, and they felt an instant connection. They are thrilled to have found each other.
Before Davidian was contacted by Dow, he was reading a Bible passage about such a “crazy … miracle” that he started to laugh.
It also inspired him to pray: “I prayed if there’s something or someone who needs friendship or attention, I don’t just walk by it, I show up. I do my part. … One hour exactly after I prayed that prayer, Tiffany was on the other line.”
It was a different prayer than normal.
“A lot of times when I pray, it’s about me and my need,” Davidian said. “This prayer was not about me and my need. It was about being aware of other people, and I think that’s something that God wants.”
Another amazing twist: They learned each starts the day reading from the same Bible study daily devotional.
They met for the first time in March, when Davidian flew to Missouri to visit Dow for her 46th birthday.
They’ve gotten more out of their relationship than each other. Davidian, 65, also got grandchildren, Dow’s four children, ages 17 to 24. And Dow got grandparents, Horace and Dolores Davidian, whom she met on Father’s Day.
Dow was disappointed her mom didn’t tell her about Davidian earlier, but she’s found solace in the belief that “God’s timing is perfect.”