delight
A DNA test led him to his father, Michael McDonald
He wondered his whole life. The answer sang yacht rock.
Michael Goessling took a 23andMe test wondering about the biological parents who placed him for adoption in St. Louis in 1966. On his 58th birthday, he met his biological mother, who connected him with his father. The man on the phone chatted about his work as a musician and summer plans to pass through St. Louis, and something clicked. "And then I finally said, 'Are you Michael McDonald?'" Goessling told KMOV. "And he said, 'Yeah, I'm afraid so.'" Yes, that Michael McDonald, of the Doobie Brothers. The shared first name is a coincidence. McDonald's mother was 14 when the boy was born and left him unnamed. The name Michael came from Kay Goessling, who raised him with her husband Paul. "The real rock stars in this story for us are his adoptive parents," McDonald said. When the two Michaels finally met in person, there was a bear hug. "He told me he loved me, and I told him the same," Goessling said.
