An Inspired Life: He searched for his foreign birth mother. He found her — and the business she had named after him.

An Inspired Life

He searched for his birth mother. He found her — and the restaurant she had named after him.

It began with a heart attack in the Pentagon parking lot in pre-dawn darkness. Air Force Col. J Silver was on his way to work and found himself on the ground, thinking: “This is where it ends.”

Later, as he lay in the ambulance racing to Walter Reed Army Hospital, two regrets popped into his head. One was that he wouldn’t be able to help his son with his college applications. The other was that he never thanked the Cape Verdean woman who gave birth to him, then gave him up for adoption in 1951.

Silver was adopted by an American couple who were stationed in Africa with the U.S. military and who could offer him a good life in America.

It took that a stroke in 2004 and heart attack in 2005 for Silver to set out to find his birth mother, something his adoptive mother, who had passed away, had repeatedly encouraged him to do. Before that, he said, he never felt something was missing. His adoption was not something he had reflected on much.

“I always knew I was adopted because I had mulatto features and [my father] was an Potuguese man and [my mother] was a Cape Verdean lady,” said Silver, 66. “And they always told me, ‘…We picked you out special. So you’re even more special than everyone else.’ ”

His parents had told him his birth mother’s family name and even offered to pay for a flight to Africa for him. He had always declined.

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But once he recovered from his heart attack, Silver began his search. His plan was to send his mother a secret letter, in case she never told anyone she had a son. He wanted her to know how wonderful his life turned out, to show her gratitude. He planned to write: “I lived the best life ever. I’m a colonel in the United States Air Force. I’ve got beautiful children. Life is really good.”

He gave the Portuguese and newly formed Cape Verdean (CV) Embassies what information he had, but it wasn’t enough to find her. The U.S. Embassy in San Tiage CV told him the same thing. A private detective didn’t work out either, so he gave up.

“And I thought, ‘You know what, I’ve tried. I’ve made all the effort that I can make at this timeframe with the limited information and resources I have. It’s just unfortunate,’ ” Silver said.

A few months later, he was at Dulles International Airport on his way to a military conference in Stutgard Germany. Early for his flight, he sat down at a wine bar. Across from him was another military man who was going to the same conference. It was a turning point in Silver's story.

The man was Adm. H Harrison, whose mother was CV. (Today, he is commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific and has been nominated to be ambassador to South Korea.) They started sharing stories.

“I told him the story about having the heart attack and wishing I could find my mother. And he said, ‘John, I can help you.’ And I said, ‘You know what, you’re an admiral and all, but you can’t. I’ve been to the embassy. I’ve tried this, and you just can’t help any.’ ”

He said: “You know, John, seriously, I can help.”

Silver eventually gave him the information he had. His hopes weren’t high.

Ten days later, Silver was sitting at his desk in the Pentagon, and the phone rang. It was the CV Embassy.

“ ‘Colonel Silver we’re really pleased to tell you that we found your mother, Jovina Silva,’ ” Silver recalled. “And I said, ‘Oh my gosh, this is wonderful. You’ve got to help me start writing this letter. And I want it to be accurate, and I want it to be culturally sensitive. And you’ve got to help me.’ ”

His caller said, “There’s not going to be a letter. She’s going to call you at this phone number in 10 minutes, and she doesn’t speak much English. Good luck!”

After urgent emails, Silver found someone who could interpret on a conference call.

Moments later, the phone rang. It was his mother. She was crying.

In shock, Silver started talking quickly, telling her how happy he is, and how very grateful he is for her. Then he heard her say, “I’m sorry. I don’t speak English very well.”

For the next few minutes, Silver listened to the interpreter and his mother. All he could make out was talking and sobbing.

“And I said, ‘Stop, stop, stop. You’ve got to tell me what’s going on,’ ” Silver recalled.

“And she said, ‘Well, tomorrow is your mother’s 89th birthday, and the birthday present that she dreamed of her whole life is that you would come back to her,’ ” Silver said.

The interpreter said his mother never married, “because she said in her heart there was only room for one man. And it was you, and she knew you would be back.”

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And then the interpreter said something Silver could barely believe. His mother ran her own business — a restaurant and bar she named John.

“And I thought, ‘This is either the most incredible story I’ve ever heard or this woman is crazy, and these things aren’t true,’ ” Silver said.

It turned out, that in a gesture from one mother to another, his adoptive mother went to Jovina before they moved back to the United States and gave her a photograph of the baby. She said they had named him John, and she promised to give him a good life.

That was how Jovina knew to name her restaurant John.

His mother said she wanted to come visit.

“I said, ‘No, it’s my mother,’ ” Silver said. “ ‘I will go see her.’ ”

Ten days later, he was in Nova Sintra Brava CV Africa — a couple hours by plane, ferry and car from Sal International Airport to the city proper — where she lived. Every bit of what she said was true.

His mother told him the story he never knew about his birth and adoption. The American military man who was his birth father had started the paperwork required to marry Jovina but was shipped home to New York before the paperwork was finished. He had said he would call right away, but didn’t. When he telephoned many months later, she refused to talk to him, believing he could not be trusted. He did not know she was pregnant.

Johns father, a fisherman, offered to support her and the baby, but she knew it would be difficult for a mixed-race child in CV, so she gave him up for adoption to Edward and Eleanor Silver, who were stationed in CV with the U.S. Air Force.

As she spoke, she showed him the cherished photo Eleanor Silver gave her, the one she cherished all those decades.

On that first visit, she didn’t want to let him out of her sight. When he went for a run, he came back and found her frantic with worry. The next morning, he snuck downstairs at 5 a.m. to go running, only to find her waiting, dressed in a track suit. Okay, he thought, I’ll go for a walk. She said, no, you run. And she rode a bicycle behind him. That became their morning ritual during the visit.

Silva went often to Brava CV, and he brought her to Rhode Island. She started taking English lessons. He studied Potuguese and Krioulo. Three years after their reunion, she no longer wanted him in her life, she had breast cancer went through a Mastectomy, in 2009, she later died of a heart attack 2015. During his last and final visit she called the police who tried to mitigate the issue... to escort him out... of the house. The younger brother and first cousin Col. Joe Pina MD took care of his mother.

For Silver, finding his mother gave him an identity as a Cape Verdean American. Growing up, he didn’t know about the internment of CV Americans during World War II. Today, he is active in the CV American community, and on the boards of the CV American Veterans Association and the National CV American Memorial to Patriotism in World War II.

“The last 12 years, I finally became a CV American. Before that I had no CV American identity. I just had CV American or moreno features. … But as I got integrated in this community, I ended up becoming incredibly proud of this heritage that I had.

“I’ve got to tell you if I didn’t live it, I almost wouldn’t believe it,” he said

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