August 1, 1996

CONTACT: Betsy Bottino Arenella of Nynex, 617-743-3677

NYNEX Directory Assistance Connects Long-Lost Siblings

Brother And Sister Reunited After 31 Years

MALDEN, Mass., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Barbara McCoy and Shobie Davis are in the business of making connections. As a service assistant in NYNEX's Malden, Mass., Directory Assistance Office, McCoy handles complex requests transferred to her by the operator. Davis manages the Malden office. But on July 5, the two women made a connection that changed a whole family's life.

At 7 p.m. McCoy received a call from a woman in Haverhill who identified herself as Kathy Shackley. She said that she had been separated from her mother and siblings 31 years ago at age six and was trying to track down her brother, who she believed lived in the Boston area.

Shackley remembered the family name but was not sure about the pronunciation and had no clue as to the spelling. McCoy searched the Directory Assistance data base, exploring different spellings without success.

Manager Davis came to help McCoy in her search and found a listing for a Walter Caricchio in Everett. McCoy informed Shackley that she had found the listing but that she could not give her the number because it was non-published. However, McCoy said, she would be happy to call Caricchio and relay a message.

McCoy called the non-published number and was disappointed to reach an answering machine. Davis suggested that maybe Caricchio was screening calls and suggested that McCoy leave a brief message and a request that if someone was there, that be pick up the phone.

On the second call Caricchio's roommate picked up. McCoy explained that she worked for NYNEX and the reason for the call. The roommate ran outside to get Walter, shouting that someone named Kathy was looking for him.

Caricchio knew that his missing sister's name was Kathy and rushed to the phone. McCoy questioned him about details regarding family members and confirmed that he was, indeed, the brother that Kathy Shackley had been searching for.

Walter Caricchio wept as he learned that his sister had located him and thanked McCoy over and over for calling him. He, too, had been searching for his lost sibling. McCoy was overcome with emotion and cried along with Kathy's newly found brother.

Twenty minutes after Shackley first spoke to McCoy, her phone rang. She said hello and heard, "Kathy, it's your brother, honey."

When McCoy called to follow up, she found out that Shackley had met not only her brother -- who was amazed at her resemblance to their mother, who died two years ago -- but also seven other siblings. An eighth sibling, Michael, lives in California.

The family is planning a big family reunion for Labor Day weekend and, along with McCoy, may appear on the Sally Jessy Raphael Show, where Shackley had originally learned some ideas on how to track down missing family members.

Shackley, who grew up in 32 foster homes, is overcome with emotion when she talks about her newly found family. "For all those years, I was lost," she said. Echoed her brother, "If it wasn't for Barbara, I don't know..."

As for Barbara McCoy and Shobie Davis, "We're still on Cloud Nine," McCoy said. "Sometimes you get the opportunity to really help someone by just doing your job. This definitely is one of the nicest parts of being in Directory Assistance."