Amarillo man reunites with biological father 52 years later

AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – It’s been a long road for one Amarillo man, Cory Bayle, to meet his biological parents, something he thought once was not possible. But now in the past few years, he has met his biological mother and Thursday, his biological father.

From birth, Bayle knew he was adopted, and that it was a closed adoption.

“I lived all my life knowing I would never find my birth parents, so it’s not something I really dwelled on, it’s just something, you live with it and you go on. You wonder who they are and what they were doing and how I came about,” said Bayle.

But that all changed during the pandemic when his mom was putting together her family tree, which prompted Bayle to buy himself a 23andMe DNA kit.

“She would come back to me and say I found this grandparent came over from Ireland and they were on this ship and they did this and they had this many children and there’s junior and senior and stuff about the family and she started to realize and it became apparent, that this wasn’t me. Even though it’s my family and I knew names and grandparents, it wasn’t a part of me,” said Bayle.

After getting those results in February 2022, Bayle connected with his biological mother.

“The following day, I got an email from an uncle that I was matched with and he said ‘Hi Cory, I’m your uncle. I was there when you were born. I have contacted your birth mother. Here is her name and her email address.’ she would love to talk to you. For my 50th birthday, I went to Fort Worth and when they opened the door and she walked in, touching her and holding her for the first time and saying her for the first time, it was just a feeling I never knew I was missing,” said Bayle on The Tamron Hall Show.

The search still wasn’t over as he now was looking for his biological father and with the help of the nonprofit Search Angels, which helps people find DNA relatives, he found him.

“[Volunteer at Search Angels said] I have pinpointed you to a family in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the grandmother. I can’t tell you where it goes from there. So the wait was two years until it happened,” said Bayle.

Bayle said they first spoke on the phone after connecting and Bayle said it felt normal.

“We spent four and a half hours on the phone talking about our backgrounds and our history. We’re very similar in our backgrounds. He’s in the entertainment industry. I work in television. We have a lot of the same traits, wishes, and desires. It was exciting,” said Bayle.

After their first in-person meeting Thursday on The Tamron Hall Show, they are planning a big reunion in July.

“We’re all going to come together, my family wants to adopt his family. My mother’s family. Just one big happy family,” said Bayle.

Bayle said he was also able to meet his half-sister on his father’s side for the first time as well while in New York for the show, which he said was really cool after being an only child his whole life.

You can also watch The Tamron Hall Show on weekdays on KAMR Local Four at 1 p.m.

For the latest Amarillo news and regional updates, check with MyHighPlains.com and tune in to KAMR Local 4 News at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 p.m. and Fox 14 News at 9:00 p.m. CST.