September 15, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Skip Reeves grew up in a military family, traveling the world, making music, and building a life surrounded by love and stability. He never questioned the bond he had with his father, a man who taught him strength, respect, and decency. But decades later, as an adult with children of his own, Skip learned a secret that had been hidden since he was five years old: he was adopted. Skip reflects on what it means to learn such a truth as an adult and why, for him, adoption was not about loss but about a bond that had already been proven strong.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is our American Stories and as you all know,
listener stories are some of our favorites. We play them
a lot here and send your listener stories to Ouramerican
Stories dot com. This is a short form to fill out.
You can type it up, send it to us, and
you'll be hearing back from us. We love these stories.
Your stories make this show what it is. Up next,
(00:32):
Skip Breeves, who listens to us on KOA News Radio
eight fifty AM and ninety four point one FM out
of Denver. Skip found out something interesting about himself when
he was in his thirties. Here's our own Monty Montgomery
with a story.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Skip Breeves. Real name isn't to actually Skip.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
My real name is Jory. As I understand, when my
mother was pregnant with me me, my grandfather would say
to her during the course of the pregnancy, when is
that little skipper coming out of there? And so when
I was born, the name Skipper just kind of stuck.
I had four children that are grown at this point.
(01:16):
I grew up to be a professional musician. I was
a professional drummer at one time, and I had the
moniker known as the world's tallest drummer because I'm six
feet eleven, and so everywhere I would travel to perform,
everybody would say, We've never seen a drummer as tall
as you. I had the privilege of playing with nationally
(01:39):
known bands such as the Drifters, the Platters. I played
with the Marvelettes, the female group from Motown. So I
had a pretty happy career as a professional drummer. All
in all, I'm doing okay. My childhood. First of all,
(02:02):
my father was in the military. He was in the
army for twenty five years, so all of my childhood
life I was a military brat. We traveled around a lot,
but I lived a good portion of my childhood in Germany.
My childhood was a good one for the most part
because I had a very loving, hands on, attentive father.
(02:28):
I had a very good father. I liked being in
my father being in the military, all the traveling around.
When I look back on it really prepared me for
life in all of the challenges that it would bring
upon me as I moved through life. I was a
little black kid, but you know, I grew up around
a variety of races of people. So because of that
(02:49):
and living in another country, I grew up to learn
that people are just people. I didn't grow up with
any kind of racial issues. My father didn't teach us
any of that while we were growing up. I will
tell you this. He certainly taught us to stand up
for ourselves. He taught us, you know, hey, respect other
people and have them respect you. So my father certainly
(03:12):
didn't raise any of his kids to be pushovers or
to be walked on or walked over. But he raised
this just to be decent people who who you know,
make a positive contribution to society. So I grew up
like that and I'm still that same person to this day.
But my father was a major, major influence on me
(03:33):
because he really was a man who loved his kids.
He took care of us very well, cared about all
of us deeply, deeply, and he would do anything he
could to help us, support us, and to stand by us.
So my childhood for the most part, was a good one,
you know.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
But it wasn't one without its quirks.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
When I was five years old and we were living
in Germany at the time, my mother came up to
me one time and she said Skipper, because that's what
she called me then, and she still calls me that
to this day, my mother said, Skipper, she said, I
got to talk to you about something a little bit important.
She said, We're going to go see a man and
he's a judge, and this man is going to ask you,
(04:20):
you know, certain questions about your father, and whatever questions
he asked you, you know, say yes to them, and
you know, are you happy here in this family? You know,
how does Leston treat you? Because that's my father's name, Leston.
You know, how does he treat you? And so forth.
So a man is going to ask you some questions
about that, you know, just answer the way I'm telling
(04:40):
you to answer them. And I said, well, okay. I
mean I was five years old. I had no clue
what was going on. So sure enough, you know, we
went to some building. I can remember going into a
little small room which now I'm pretty sure was the
judge's chambers. At the time, I didn't know what it was,
but we went back there, and sure enough, there was
a judge there with the typical judge clothes on, and
(05:02):
he did start asking me questions. You know, how did
I feel about being a part of this family? You know,
what did I think about my dad? It wasn't that
many questions, maybe four or five I think that I
can recall, and I pretty much answered positive and affirmatively
to all the questions, and so, you know, the judge said, well, okay,
that's it, and we walked out of there and went home.
(05:24):
I never gave it another thought. But what I found
out was later on, when the whole issue came up
of him not being my biological father, when I went
to go talk to my mom about it, that's when
she brought that up. She says, Skipper. She said, remember
when you was a little boy in Germany and five
years old and you had to go talk to that
(05:46):
judge And I said yeah. She said, well that was
the occasion that your father was officially adopting you. And
I said, oh, so that's what that was about. But
at five years old, it didn't mean anything to me.
I just went in and answered the question and we
came out of there.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
That's right, Skip was actually adopted, and he didn't know
about it until he was in his thirties with kids
of his own. But it took some discord in his
father's life for that information to come out.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
My mother and father divorced, so some years later, my
father remarried and unfortunately, you know, some years into the marriage,
that relationship began to sour as well. Well. Sometime prior
before that, my father had taken his then wife down
to Texas, because you know, my father's from Texas, and
(06:41):
you know, as his wife was visiting with some of
the you know, older relatives, the conversation just came up
that I was not you know, Lesson's biological son. When
my father and her started having some issues in their marriage,
as I was told, she threatened to call me and
(07:03):
tell me personally that you know that Lesson is not
my father. As soon as she said that, my father
called my mother and told her the situation, and he says,
you know, Reba, my mother's name is Reba. He said,
you know what you need to tell Skip, what's went
on all this time? He needs to hear the story
from you. So my mother called me one day and
(07:25):
she was crying and trembling on the phone. And yes,
I was thirty three years old at this age, married,
but she called me on the phone and you know, trembling,
and I could I could tell there was a lot
of anxiety there. And she said, Skip, I need you
I need you to come over here because I got
something real important to talk to you about. And I said, okay.
(07:47):
So you know, I got in my car and drove
across town and went to her house. And so when
I walked into the house, she was shaking and trembling,
and you know, she was kind of crying and said,
I got something I need to tell you. And I
basically said, just go ahead and tell me. I said,
you know, just you can relax and calm down. Whatever
it is, just just go ahead and tell me. And
(08:08):
she says, well, you remember when you were five years
old and you went before that judge so on and
so forth. And I said yeah. She said, well, Lesston
is not your biological father. She said that was part
of the adoption process. And I said, okay, so you
know what, and she kind of looked at me like
(08:30):
that's it. And I said, he what do you What
am I supposed to do? You know? And she said
and I said, first of all, I said, Mom, that
doesn't bother me. I said, it doesn't bother me at all.
I said, you know, I wouldn't trade him for a
father for any other man on this planet. I said,
I've never felt like I was not a part of
this family. I've never felt like he was not my father.
(08:52):
I said, so, you know, you can relax, you know,
I said, there's there's nothing to be upset about. I said,
I don't see that to either of you get anything wrong.
And she says, well, she said, Skip, you know, we
never meant to keep this from you. She said. But
she says, but you guys just got along so well
and did everything. She said, it just never came up.
So I said, I'm okay. I said, I'm not mad
(09:14):
at anybody. I'm not upset. And I said, so everybody
can relax and calm down. It is what it is.
Let's keep moving. There's been absolutely no change, no altering whatsoever,
none whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I think finding
that out probably brought me even closer to my dad
because after I found that out, I called him up
(09:36):
and I said, you know what, Dad, I love you
even more. I said, because man, you took on a
child that wasn't yours and gave me a great life.
You know what he just said. He just said, well,
Skip or I love you too. And we didn't have
a very long conversation about it. It wasn't very long
at all. I mean, I think the conversation might have
(09:58):
been two or three minutes and it was over.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I grew up very very secure knowing that my father
was that kind of man. He just raised me to
just be okay with who I am. And I've learned
that that's a very important position to know, because who
in the world are you?
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And what a beautiful story. A special thanks to Skip
Reeves for telling it. Skip reeves story, a beautiful adoption story.
Here on our American Story
This is our American Stories and as you all know,
listener stories are some of our favorites. We play them
a lot here and send your listener stories to Ouramerican
Stories dot com. This is a short form to fill out.
You can type it up, send it to us, and
you'll be hearing back from us. We love these stories.
Your stories make this show what it is. Up next,
(00:32):
Skip Breeves, who listens to us on KOA News Radio
eight fifty AM and ninety four point one FM out
of Denver. Skip found out something interesting about himself when
he was in his thirties. Here's our own Monty Montgomery
with a story.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Skip Breeves. Real name isn't to actually Skip.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
My real name is Jory. As I understand, when my
mother was pregnant with me me, my grandfather would say
to her during the course of the pregnancy, when is
that little skipper coming out of there? And so when
I was born, the name Skipper just kind of stuck.
I had four children that are grown at this point.
(01:16):
I grew up to be a professional musician. I was
a professional drummer at one time, and I had the
moniker known as the world's tallest drummer because I'm six
feet eleven, and so everywhere I would travel to perform,
everybody would say, We've never seen a drummer as tall
as you. I had the privilege of playing with nationally
(01:39):
known bands such as the Drifters, the Platters. I played
with the Marvelettes, the female group from Motown. So I
had a pretty happy career as a professional drummer. All
in all, I'm doing okay. My childhood. First of all,
(02:02):
my father was in the military. He was in the
army for twenty five years, so all of my childhood
life I was a military brat. We traveled around a lot,
but I lived a good portion of my childhood in Germany.
My childhood was a good one for the most part
because I had a very loving, hands on, attentive father.
(02:28):
I had a very good father. I liked being in
my father being in the military, all the traveling around.
When I look back on it really prepared me for
life in all of the challenges that it would bring
upon me as I moved through life. I was a
little black kid, but you know, I grew up around
a variety of races of people. So because of that
(02:49):
and living in another country, I grew up to learn
that people are just people. I didn't grow up with
any kind of racial issues. My father didn't teach us
any of that while we were growing up. I will
tell you this. He certainly taught us to stand up
for ourselves. He taught us, you know, hey, respect other
people and have them respect you. So my father certainly
(03:12):
didn't raise any of his kids to be pushovers or
to be walked on or walked over. But he raised
this just to be decent people who who you know,
make a positive contribution to society. So I grew up
like that and I'm still that same person to this day.
But my father was a major, major influence on me
(03:33):
because he really was a man who loved his kids.
He took care of us very well, cared about all
of us deeply, deeply, and he would do anything he
could to help us, support us, and to stand by us.
So my childhood for the most part, was a good one,
you know.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
But it wasn't one without its quirks.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
When I was five years old and we were living
in Germany at the time, my mother came up to
me one time and she said Skipper, because that's what
she called me then, and she still calls me that
to this day, my mother said, Skipper, she said, I
got to talk to you about something a little bit important.
She said, We're going to go see a man and
he's a judge, and this man is going to ask you,
(04:20):
you know, certain questions about your father, and whatever questions
he asked you, you know, say yes to them, and
you know, are you happy here in this family? You know,
how does Leston treat you? Because that's my father's name, Leston.
You know, how does he treat you? And so forth.
So a man is going to ask you some questions
about that, you know, just answer the way I'm telling
(04:40):
you to answer them. And I said, well, okay. I
mean I was five years old. I had no clue
what was going on. So sure enough, you know, we
went to some building. I can remember going into a
little small room which now I'm pretty sure was the
judge's chambers. At the time, I didn't know what it was,
but we went back there, and sure enough, there was
a judge there with the typical judge clothes on, and
(05:02):
he did start asking me questions. You know, how did
I feel about being a part of this family? You know,
what did I think about my dad? It wasn't that
many questions, maybe four or five I think that I
can recall, and I pretty much answered positive and affirmatively
to all the questions, and so, you know, the judge said, well, okay,
that's it, and we walked out of there and went home.
(05:24):
I never gave it another thought. But what I found
out was later on, when the whole issue came up
of him not being my biological father, when I went
to go talk to my mom about it, that's when
she brought that up. She says, Skipper. She said, remember
when you was a little boy in Germany and five
years old and you had to go talk to that
(05:46):
judge And I said yeah. She said, well that was
the occasion that your father was officially adopting you. And
I said, oh, so that's what that was about. But
at five years old, it didn't mean anything to me.
I just went in and answered the question and we
came out of there.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
That's right, Skip was actually adopted, and he didn't know
about it until he was in his thirties with kids
of his own. But it took some discord in his
father's life for that information to come out.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
My mother and father divorced, so some years later, my
father remarried and unfortunately, you know, some years into the marriage,
that relationship began to sour as well. Well. Sometime prior
before that, my father had taken his then wife down
to Texas, because you know, my father's from Texas, and
(06:41):
you know, as his wife was visiting with some of
the you know, older relatives, the conversation just came up
that I was not you know, Lesson's biological son. When
my father and her started having some issues in their marriage,
as I was told, she threatened to call me and
(07:03):
tell me personally that you know that Lesson is not
my father. As soon as she said that, my father
called my mother and told her the situation, and he says,
you know, Reba, my mother's name is Reba. He said,
you know what you need to tell Skip, what's went
on all this time? He needs to hear the story
from you. So my mother called me one day and
(07:25):
she was crying and trembling on the phone. And yes,
I was thirty three years old at this age, married,
but she called me on the phone and you know, trembling,
and I could I could tell there was a lot
of anxiety there. And she said, Skip, I need you
I need you to come over here because I got
something real important to talk to you about. And I said, okay.
(07:47):
So you know, I got in my car and drove
across town and went to her house. And so when
I walked into the house, she was shaking and trembling,
and you know, she was kind of crying and said,
I got something I need to tell you. And I
basically said, just go ahead and tell me. I said,
you know, just you can relax and calm down. Whatever
it is, just just go ahead and tell me. And
(08:08):
she says, well, you remember when you were five years
old and you went before that judge so on and
so forth. And I said yeah. She said, well, Lesston
is not your biological father. She said that was part
of the adoption process. And I said, okay, so you
know what, and she kind of looked at me like
(08:30):
that's it. And I said, he what do you What
am I supposed to do? You know? And she said
and I said, first of all, I said, Mom, that
doesn't bother me. I said, it doesn't bother me at all.
I said, you know, I wouldn't trade him for a
father for any other man on this planet. I said,
I've never felt like I was not a part of
this family. I've never felt like he was not my father.
(08:52):
I said, so, you know, you can relax, you know,
I said, there's there's nothing to be upset about. I said,
I don't see that to either of you get anything wrong.
And she says, well, she said, Skip, you know, we
never meant to keep this from you. She said. But
she says, but you guys just got along so well
and did everything. She said, it just never came up.
So I said, I'm okay. I said, I'm not mad
(09:14):
at anybody. I'm not upset. And I said, so everybody
can relax and calm down. It is what it is.
Let's keep moving. There's been absolutely no change, no altering whatsoever,
none whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I think finding
that out probably brought me even closer to my dad
because after I found that out, I called him up
(09:36):
and I said, you know what, Dad, I love you
even more. I said, because man, you took on a
child that wasn't yours and gave me a great life.
You know what he just said. He just said, well,
Skip or I love you too. And we didn't have
a very long conversation about it. It wasn't very long
at all. I mean, I think the conversation might have
(09:58):
been two or three minutes and it was over.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
You know.
Speaker 3 (10:01):
I grew up very very secure knowing that my father
was that kind of man. He just raised me to
just be okay with who I am. And I've learned
that that's a very important position to know, because who
in the world are you?
Speaker 1 (10:24):
And what a beautiful story. A special thanks to Skip
Reeves for telling it. Skip reeves story, a beautiful adoption story.
Here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.