By Margo Greenman
Rita Saloma was born and raised in Grays Harbor, but her family is scattered all over the globe.
In a recent effort by Rita’s relatives to get the whole family together, Rita and her husband — who are both of Finnish descent — traveled to Finland for a reunion.
During the reunion, Rita met a distant cousin, Dale, who told her he knew of another relative living in Aberdeen. Dale shared the relative’s name — Sandi Frasier — but Rita didn’t recognize it. “I figured she was probably an older Finnish lady,” says Rita. “I wasn’t in any big hurry to look her up.”
But not long after, Rita received a phone call that would change her life.
Earlier this October, just a few months after the reunion in Finland, Rita received a phone call from Dale. “My husband answered the phone. He said, ‘Someone wants to say hi to you.’”
Both confused and a little bit surprised, Rita picked up the phone and a woman’s voice answered. “Rita, this is Sandi Miller,” the voice said.
Rita instantly recognized the name. It was her co-worker of more than 10 years.
Rita and Sandi, both nurses at Grays Harbor Community Hospital, have worked alongside one another for more than a decade, but it was only recently that the two discovered that they share a special bond — they’re cousins.
“If Dale had said her name was Sandi Miller, I would have said, ‘I know Sandi Miller!’ But he said, ‘Sandi Fraiser’ — he was using Sandi’s mother’s maiden name,” explains Rita.
Surprised by the discovery, both Rita and Sandi were delighted to learn that, after all these years, they’re more than just co-workers.
“It’s just exciting,” says Sandi. “I’ve known Rita for 10 years. We’ve worked together, we’ve got along well, I adore her, and then to find out it’s because she’s my blood — I was ecstatic.”
And for Sandi, learning about Rita was extra special. “I don’t have any relatives in Grays Harbor, so to find a relative in Grays Harbor is pretty exciting,” she says.
Most of Sandi’s relatives — like Dale — live in Minnesota, which is where Sandi was when she learned about her relationship to Rita. “I was visiting family in Minnesota and celebrating my aunt’s birthday when Dale handed me a piece of paper with Rita’s name and contact information,” recalls Sandi. “I said, ‘Dale, I know Rita. We’ve worked together for 10 years.’”
While Rita and Sandi aren’t certain, they’re fairly confident that their great grandfathers were brothers — and they know for a fact that both of their mothers had the name Paakonen.
“I think the reason we’ve always gotten along is because we both have Paakonen blood,” says Sandi.
The two cousins look forward to spending more time together and investigating their lineage further, because despite knowing each other for the past 10 years, the two feel as though they have a lifetime of catching up to do.
“We’re going to get into the family tree and trace back where our direct relatives are from and also catch up on Rita’s line of the family and my line of the family,” says Sandi.
“And I want to know what she’s been up to for the past 60 years,” says Rita.
