Posey v. Yandell

• Decision Date: 03 May 1966
• Docket Number: No. 126200,126200
• Citation: 222 A.2d 747,26 Conn.Supp. 320
• Court: Connecticut Superior Court
• Parties: Robert POSEY v. Archie YANDELL et al.

Page 747

222 A.2d 747

26 Conn.Supp. 320

Robert POSEY v. Archie YANDELL et al.

No. 126200.

Superior Court of Connecticut, Fairfield County, at Bridgeport.

May 3, 1966.

Brody & Brody, Bridgeport, for plaintiff.

Yudkin & Yudkin, Derby, for defendants.

FITZ GERALD, Judge.

This is a habeas corpus proceeding for the custody of a child, Carolyn Posey, born May 30, 1964. The trial to the court was had on April 21, 1966. In addition to the taking of evidence, the court has had the benefit of an investigation report requested by Judge Wall on February 18, 1966, and completed and submitted by Mrs. Lucille Tomanio of the family relations division of this court on March 23, 1966, together with an investigation report under date of March 14, 1966, prepared by Charles F. McHugh, an officer connected with a similar agency in Newport, Rhode Island. The latter investigation, relating solely to the plaintiff, who is presently stationed at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, was conducted at the request of the family relations division of this court because the plaintiff is now a naval resident of that state.

The plaintiff is the father of the child Carolyn, the subject of this litigation, born May 30, 1964, as stated. She is the second child of the plaintiff's marriage to Constance Trew, the first child being Robert born October 25, 1962. The marriage was entered into in Biloxi, Mississippi, on October 10, 1958, when the plaintiff was in the United States air force. That marriage was terminated on November 26, 1965, by the death of the wife in St. Albans Naval Hospital, Long Island, New York. The fatal illness was meningitis, which had its inception a few years before when the plaintiff was stationed at an army air base in California where he was then living with his wife and child Robert. Carolyn was born after the family had returned east. It was on May 15, 1964, after the two enlistments in the air force had been concluded with an honorable discharge, followed by a brief period of civilian work, that the plaintiff entered the naval service. His present status is that of a training deviceman, third class, serving on the staff at the United States Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Following the birth of Carolyn on May 30, 1964, the mother, with the two children, lived with her own parents, the Reverend and Mrs. James Trew, the children's maternal grandparents. The Reverend Trew is a Methodist minister. After her death, the boy Robert went to live with the plaintiff in various households where the plaintiff was then residing in Newport, Rhode Island, or nearby areas. Carolyn, upon her mother's death, first went to live in the household of Marilyn Kashian, a young married sister of her mother, and remained there until this aunt was about to have a child of her own. Since February, 1966, to date hereof, the child has been living with the defendants, Archie and Carol Yandell, husband and wife, in their home in Monroe, Connecticut. Mrs. Yandell is also a sister of the child's mother, and thus she is the child's material aunt and Mr. Yandell is an uncle by marriage.

It would appear that the Yandell household is a pleasant and happy one. The Yandells have three children of their own, ranging in ages from eight years to three and one-half years. Mrs. Yandell is active as a teacher in the Monroe school system, and Mr. Yandell is employed on the night shift at a factory in Monroe. There is no question that the Yandells as defendants and the maternal grandparents are fine people and have become extremely devoted to little Carolyn. Stated in a few words, it is their earnest belief that the interests of the child will be served best by the child's remaining where she is. It is their position that the plaintiff's primary interest is in the boy Robert. The fact that the plaintiff has not made efforts to see the child Carolyn more frequently than he has to date is an aspect which weighs with them.

The plaintiff is thirty-three years of age. On February 21, 1966, he married Charlotte Branch, age twenty-two years, a former member of the women's division of the navy. They occupy rented quarters in a residential section of Newport, consisting of five large rooms having a monthly rental of $120. The plaintiff's former record of service in the army and his present record in the navy are not only commendable but outstanding. The...