Times Union, Albany, USA
Section: LOCAL
Page: B3
WEDNESDAY, September 5, 1990SANDRA, MARCUS, ANDREW, NATALY BEREFT CLAVERACK PARENTS ASSEMBLE A NEW FAMILY THROUGH ADOPTIO N
By Tim Beidel Staff writer
Georgia and Tony Nucci, who lost two teenage children to death overseas, returned from Colombia Tuesday with a new family.
The Claverack couple lost their son Christopher Jones, who died at age 20 when Pan Am Flight 103 was blown from the sky above Lockerbie, Scotland, four days before Christmas in 1988. Less than a year earlier, Jennifer Jones died at 18 after becoming ill while an exchange student in Ecuador.
"At this point in our lives it was not really a viable option to go forward with no kids in the house," said Tony Nucci, Jennifer and Christopher's stepfather. "We lost two young adults in 1988, one at each end of the year, from two separate and distinct events. After being a year and a half with no children, we decided we had a hole in our lives that needed filling."
In Colombia, the Nuccis found Sandra, 10, Marcus, 7, Andrew, 6, and Nataly,
4 - four youngsters with needs complementary to their own.
The children, who lived with about 150 other orphaned and abandoned kids, are now members of the Nucci family. They arrived at Albany County Airport at about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.
"It's exciting to have something to look forward to again," Georgia Nucci said. "We were too young to pack it in."
The Nuccis contacted a representative of the Colombian adoption agency in Buffalo after another member of the Pan Am victims' organization had introduced them to a friend who had adopted twins.
"With a certain amount of pounds of paperwork and a lot of patience, we've been able to get through it and get it done," Tony Nucci said.
The Nuccis had sought an infant, but "by some obtuse logic we were declared to be too old for an infant, but it was appropriate for us to take on a much larger number of somewhat older children," Tony Nucci said. Tony Nucci is 49; Georgia Nucci is 47.
"For that, we weren't too old," he said. "So we went ahead, and we're very glad."
All four children speak only Spanish, but Georgia Nucci is fluent in their language. Georgia Nucci said she will get the children acclimated to America and introduce them to their teachers in the coming days, but today
will probably be spent catching up on sleep.
Said Tony Nucci, "These kids, despite the rough times they've been through, they're still very upbeat and affirmative and full of life. They're not whipped."