A couple of weeks ago, National Public Radio broadcast a story about Cindy McCain's business and charity work.
In it, Ted Robbins described Cindy McCain as the only child of Jim Hensley, a wealthy Arizona businessman.
The next morning, NPR received an e-mail from Nicholas Portalski of Phoenix, who heard the story with his mother.
"We were listening to the piece about Cindy McCain on NPR, All Things Considered, and it just struck us very hard," Portalski said.
His mother, Kathleen Hensley Portalski, is also Hensley's daughter.
Cindy McCain herself routinely uses the phrase "only child," as she did on CNN last month.
Said she:"I grew up with my dad," she said then. "I'm an only child. My father was a cowboy, and he really loved me very much, but I think he wanted a son occasionally."
Documents show Kathleen Anne Hensley was born to Jim and Mary Jeanne Hensley on Feb. 23, 1943.
They had been married for six years when Kathleen was born.
Jim Hensley was a bombardier on a B-17, flying over Europe during World War II.
He was injured and sent to a facility in West Virginia to recuperate. During that time, while still married to Mary Jeanne, Hensley met another woman — Marguerite Smith. Jim divorced Mary Jeanne and married Marguerite in 1945.
Cindy Lou Hensley was born nine years later, in 1954.
She may have grown up as an only child, but so did her half sister, Kathleen, who was raised by a single parent.
Portalski says she did see her father and her half sister from time to time.
"I saw him a few times a year," she says. "I saw him at Christmas and birthdays, and he provided money for school clothes, and he called occasionally."
"I'm not voting for McCain," said Kathleen Hensley Portalski. "I have a different political standpoint."
"I'm voting for Obama," the Phoenix resident says.
"I think his proposals to improve the country are more positive and I'm not a big war believer."
No comments:
Post a Comment