Not Brothers in Christ.
Blood Brothers.
“I was in shock.” Duff said. “I had no clue.”
“It was a little crazy,” Jamison said.
That initial meeting took place on Nov. 24, 2014, ironically, what would have been their father’s 60th birthday. Their biological father, Boyd Edwin Duff, of Middletown, died on May 6, 2007. He was 52.
The two men have different mothers who live in the area.
Now, Duff admits, he and Jamison look eerily similar, especially in the face and hairlines. But to prove their relationship, they submitted to a DNA test that returned 98.1 accurate, though Duff said he didn’t need the results to treat Jamison as a brother.
“It’s just great to have another person to share God’s love,” he said. “He will always be my brother. I’m looking to share our lives together, the good and the bad.”
Growing up without a father, Jamison sometimes asked his mother about his missing father. She told him she thought Boyd Duff was his father, though she was unsure. When Jamison was a college student, he considered trying to track down his family tree, but he didn’t want to possibly uproot another family, so he planted that thought in the back of his mind.
“You always are curious,” he said about locating the rest of his family. “You just get the feeling that half of you is missing. You sit around with your family, and sometimes you are just different than them. You wonder where some of your traits came from.”
But when his mother’s father passed away recently, he became intrigued again. He read Boyd Duff’s obituary on The Journal-News website and saw where he had four children. In the click of a few computer keys on Facebook, he discovered there was a guy named Wes Duff, who was named senior pastor at a Middletown church in 2013.
He called it “a quick” search.
“It wasn’t like in the movies where I needed to go to Egypt,” he said with a laugh.
That’s when, as Jamison said, it was time to “pump the gas and go for it.”
Then a few weeks ago, Duff, who wanted to prepare his congregation in case Jamison was his brother, told them he soon would make a major announcement. That only led to speculation he may be leaving the church or he was sick.
Instead, on Sunday, Duff introduced the congregation to his “new brother.” They gave Jamison a standing ovation.
“It was touching,” Jamison said.
Duff called finding a brother he didn’t know “the best Christmas present ever.”
Duff, 35, and Jamison, 34, live in Middletown separated by only 3.1 miles. They probably have been at the restaurant or grocery store together, they said. Now they go to the same church.
The reverend and his wife, Kelly, have three children: Kyle, 17, Elliot, 3, and Miles, 18 months. He also has two brothers, Boyd Duff Jr. and Kevin Duff, and one sister, Candice Duff.
Jamison, who is engaged, has two children: Clara, 5, and Jackson, 10 months.
The holidays just got a lot more interesting, and possibly, expensive for the two. They instantly picked up nieces, nephews and cousins.
“I’m overwhelmed by the sense of God’s love and peace,” Duff said. “God’s work is good. I’m looking forward to the future excitement. He will be a blessing to our family.”
Mary probably said the same words.
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