One Bradford teenager and her mother believe in miracles. How
else can they explain the teen reuniting with a father she was
separated from for three years and thousands of miles?

Both Jaqueline Steier, and her father, Wayne Steier, were
searching for each other. However, it took two-year-old information
stored in the hidden cache memory of an Internet search engine to
reunite father and daughter.

The reunion would not have taken place had it not been for a
unusual chain of events.

First, there was a Web page created by Karen Rathgeber, a
Spanish teacher at Floyd C. Fretz Middle School, where Jaqueline is
an eighth-grade student.

Information on that Web page involved a World Language Festival
where Jaqueline offered some of her mother’s Cuban cooking. Two
years later, that page was still available on a search engine. And,
with a chance look into a spam e-mail folder and a father driven to
find his daughter, a reunion was in the making.

“I can actually talk to him. I have his number on my cell phone.
I can call him anytime,” Steier said excitedly Thursday.

Three years ago, Steier and her mother Marilyn Ortega, living in
Florida, were planning to move to this region of Pennsylvania. The
last time they talked to Wayne Steier, he knew when they were going
to move. They thought he was planning to move to Washington. Both
believed they would speak again before either moved.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Ortega and her daughter left
before they were supposed to. Before they left however, they tried
to contact him, leaving word of where they would be. He never
received the message.

Since then, Jaqueline and Wayne Steier have been searching for
each other using the Internet and last known family contacts.
Jaqueline and her mother even drafted a letter to The Maury Show
thinking he could help find her father.

Two days after the letter was ready to go, Rathgeber telephoned
Ortega to tell her she may have heard from Jaqueline’s father.

Rathgeber said that before she told Ortega about an e-mail she
received from Wayne Steier, there were two reasons that the
situation wouldn’t have ended up the way it did.

“First, I found it in my spam folder. I don’t always check so
it’s very fortunate,” said Rathgeber. “The other was I thought what
if I told her mother and it wasn’t a good thing (that he was trying
to find her). I almost threw it away and pretended I never saw
it.”

Rathgeber said Steier sent her an e-mail saying he saw a Web
site displaying the name Jaqueline S., a mention of Cuban food, and
a Spanish class and wondered if the girl mentioned was his
daughter. If so, would she pass on his phone number to her.

Rathgeber said she decided to include Fretz principal Tina
Slaven and David Emerson, a guidance counselor, to help her decide
what to do. The three decided Rathgeber should contact Ortega and
fill her in.

Upon hearing the news, Ortega became excited and told the
Spanish teacher that Jaqueline would be happy to hear the news.

“I was excited. I think it’s really a blessing,” said Ortega.
“It lets you really believe in miracles. Every time I think about
it … I woke up in the middle of the night and thought it was a
dream. It was meant to be. Prayers do work.”

Rathgeber said she didn’t “do anything” to receive any type of
kudos, but Jaqueline and Ortega believe she has. They gave her
flowers and homemade banana bread as a show of appreciation. They
plan to introduce Steier to her if and when he comes to the area
for a visit.

But Rathgeber stresses she didn’t do anything out of the
ordinary.

“It wasn’t me, but I had the Web site. I was just the vessel,”
said Rathgeber.

She explained that the Web page was at least two years old and
wasn’t even active. So for Wayne Steier to actually find it was
something amazing coupled with her apprehension in telling the
women of the e-mail contact.

“He must have been looking on school Web sites and put together
Cuba and Jackie,” added Rathgeber.

On Jaqueline’s end of the search, she said she tried using the
yellow pages in phone books and on the Internet, calling any Steier
she could find, leaving messages that she was searching for her
father. Her search was unsuccessful.

Now she is working on the time she will actually be able to see
her father and her half brothers and sisters whom she describes as
enjoying similar interests as herself – something she is very happy
about.

“I want (to see them) soon. I want to meet all of my siblings,”
said Jaqueline. “I found out I was an older sister I though oh,
gosh. We have hobbies and things to talk about.”

As far as her feelings for Rathgeber, Jaqueline said, “To me if
it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have found him. She could have
deleted (the e-mail) and not told us about it. There are a number
of possibilities.”

The first time Jaqueline was separated from her father included
another move – one her mother made when she was pregnant with her.
After she moved, she lost touch with Steier. Two years after
Jaqueline’s birth, he found their number and contacted her – after
that point they had always been in touch – until the turn of events
three years ago.

“He just keeps doing this,” said Ortega.