Smith v. Crivello

• Decision Date: 25 October 1949
• Docket Number: Gen. No. 49M10.
• Citation: 338 Ill.App. 503,88 N.E.2d 107
• Parties: SMITH et al. v. CRIVELLO et al.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

338 Ill.App. 503

88 N.E.2d 107

SMITH et al.

v.CRIVELLO et al.

Gen. No. 49M10.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

Sept. 26, 1949.

Rehearing Denied Oct. 25, 1949.

Gilbert W. Smith and another petitioned as maternal grandparents of Pamala Ann Crivello for her adoption opposed by Eugene Crivello, the father of the child.

An order of the County Court of Madison County, Anthony W. Daly, J., denied the petition and the petitioners appeal.

The Appellate Court, Bardens, P. J., affirmed the order holding that evidence of abandonment of the child by the parent was not sufficient to authorize adoption by the grandparents.Manuel M. Wiseman, Alton, Philip G. Listeman, East St. Louis, for appellants.

O'Neill & Davey, Alton, Dick H. Mudge, Jr., Edwardsville, guardian ad litem for Pamala Ann Crivello.

BARDENS, Presiding Justice.

Gilbert W. Smith and Emily C. Smith, petitioners-appellants, being the maternal grandparents of Pamala Ann Crivello, appeal from an order of the County Court of Madison County, Illinois, denying their petition to adopt said grandchild. Said petition was resisted by Eugene Crivello, father of Pamala Ann.

The petition in question was filed on October 29, 1947. In the petition, it was alleged that Mr. Crivello had been guilty of, ‘abandonment of the child, or desertion of the child for more than six (6) months next preceding the filing of this petition.’ By his pleadings and by oral stipulation, the appellee, Eugene Crivello, admitted all of the material allegations of said petition with the exception of the allegation quoted above. The trial court after hearing the evidence introduced on this issue found that Mr. Crivello had not been guilty of desertion and had not been guilty of abandonment of said child, Pamala Ann Crivello. The lower court thereby ordered that the adoption petition be denied and the costs therein be taxed against the petitioners-appellants. The only issue presented to this court is whether the lower court's ruling finding that Mr. Crivello had not abandoned and had not deserted his child was correct.

The evidence discloses that Eugene Crivello, while he was in the armed services, was married to Dolores Smith on October 4, 1942. Pamala Ann Crivello was born from said marriage on September 25, 1943. Dolores Crivello died August 16, 1944, at Bangor, Maine, where she had gone to join her husband, who was in the Army Air Forces. At that time, Pamala had been left with the petitioners-appellants in Alton, Illinois. When his wife died, Mr. Crivello had no place to send the child except his wife's parents, the petitioners-appellants. After his wife's death, Mr. Crivello was sent to Meeks Field, Iceland, and was stationed there until his discharge from the armed services in October, 1945. For some eleven months after his wife's death, Mr. Crivello sent his daughter, Pamala Ann, an allotment.

On being released from service, he lived with the petitioners and his little daughter for about two weeks and then moved with his aged father. Mr. Crivello visited his child frequently, about once a week, until his remarriage on September 21, 1946. Since that time, his visits have been less frequent. Prior to the filing of this petition, defendant-appellee had visited his child only three times in 1947, the last visit being made on her birthday, September 25, 1947. On said occasion, Mr. Crivello brought his child a birthday card and a $20 bill. The petitioners-appellants asked Mr. Crivello after he was remarried if he wanted the child. He replied he had no intention of taking her from them.

Other than for the eleven months allotment made by the...