Wilhite was very eager to see Bixler but ill health made it impossible for him to travel to Ohio. Forest Bixler and his wife agreed to come to Kansas instead. Three weeks after the Beacon Journal’s initial article ran, the two men came face to face in the parlor of Wilhite’s small home at 101 S. 22nd Street in Kansas City, with their wives standing by.

The instant Wilhite saw Bixler’s face, he burst into tears. “My baby, my boy,” he cried and held out his arms to his grown son who had disappeared so mysteriously 37 years earlier. Bixler, too, was convinced Wilhite was his father. He decided then and there to resume the name given to him by his real father: George Wilhite.

“The connection between the grandmother, who disappeared at the same time George did, and Alfred Bixler may never be solved but A. A. Wilhite and the Forest H. Bixler—who today becomes George Wilhite—do not care,” the Beacon Journal wrote.

Well, that wasn’t exactly true. On March 21, the Beacon Journal ran the last story in this amazing story. “The last link in the chain of evidence identifying Forest Bixler, Kent farmer, as George Wilhite, kidnapped Kansas boy, has been supplied,” they wrote. Only one unsolved, mysterious circumstance remained in the strange life story of the three-year-old infant: what was the connection between the boy’s grandmother and Alfred Bixler?

The man now known as George Wilhite and his father traveled from Kansas City to Emporia in search of answers. They learned two important facts. The first was that Alfred Bixler had, at one time, lived in Emporia. Residents recognized his photograph when the Wilhites showed it to them. He had, in fact, lived two doors down from the home where little George was living with his grandmother. Alta had never met Alfred Bixler and he always believed Sarah Lewis had stolen his son. The second important fact that they learned was that Mrs. Lewis; her daughter, Mrs. Susie Pyle; little George; and Alfred Bixler departed from Emporia at the same time.

Alfred Bixler

The reunion that was so long in coming did not last long. Alta Wilhite passed away in 1933, and his son George died twenty years later, in 1953. The story about Alta searching for his son for all those years and never giving up on him is a beautiful one. That his son was finally persuaded to act on his intuition and memories is amazing. The fact that after an absence of 37 years, it took just three weeks to reunite the father and son is remarkable!

Of course, the story leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Some of the big ones are who were the Bixlers? What was their connection to Sarah Lewis and her daughter Susie Pyle? Who was the little girl?  And most importantly, why did they kidnap George?

I did a little research, which I’ve shared in the follow up post, The Bixler Question. In the meantime, I’m anxious to hear your thoughts!