Sergio Demo is a Berkshire County native. Born and raised in the hilly fringe of Massachusetts, he’s a proud North Adams resident with deep roots in the community.
After 32 years of service with the Pittsfield Fire Department, he’s been retired for five years. An artist, Demo uses salvaged materials from North Adams’ industrial past to make installation pieces. He’s a father of two sons, Nate and Wyatt.
For most of his life, the 67-year-old embraced the fact that some questions about his identity might never be answered.
“My adoptive parents, Elmo and Fil Demo, they were told to, as soon as I was able to understand what adoption was, they were to communicate that with me, and they did," Demo told WAMC. "So, I've known all my life, really, that I was adopted.”
Elmo and Fil didn’t know much about Sergio’s background.
“The little that they did know about me was that the that I was Spanish," he explained. "And I think it lost something in translation, somebody must have informed them about something- But that's the way it turned out, you know?”
In 2023, Demo decided it was time to finally confront the mystery of his origins.
“Just out of curiosity, I guess, and to find that missing piece of the puzzle that that's always been missing," he said. " I think people that have been adopted, I think that's always something that they either suppress or deal with is, what's my background? And it's kind of a touchy thing to do, because although it turned out fantastic for me, I don't imagine that it turns out so good for everyone.”
His early efforts were unsuccessful.
“I started with AncestryDNA, and I got no hits, I hadn't gotten no hits," Demo told WAMC. "And so, my wife Gail had suggested, well, why don't you try 23andMe? And I did, and I got a hit and it came up as a half-brother.”
It was a moment Demo had long imagined but could barely process.
“My palms started to sweat, because here it was, a half brother, oh my God," he continued. "So I contacted him on through 23andMe, and he came back and acknowledged that he knew that he had a brother here in the United States, and that I was a long-lost brother that they had always been searching for.”
In an instant, Demo stopped being an adopted only child from North Adams.
“It began a process of me being complete, really," he said. "I tell people, it's kind of like putting together this huge jigsaw puzzle, and after 67 years you're just about to finish it, and find out, wow, there's a piece missing. And they provided that last piece. And it was- It was really, I was it was joyful. I was ecstatic. It was a long time coming.”
Demo’s biological family hails from the Philippines. He knew almost nothing about the island country or its culture.
“Nothing, really, other than it's an Asian country," he admitted. "And so, the brother that contacted that, that I got a hit on or match on, his name is Wilson, and he goes to the Philippines every year, so we had an opportunity to write ride his shirttails going over there. As it turns out, I was one of 26 siblings- And I was raised an only child, so that was a shocker.”
With that, he took a leap of faith and joined his long-lost brother on a world-spanning flight to the Philippines.
“We landed in Manila, which is kind of the New York City of the Philippines," Demo told WAMC. "And we also traveled to the- The last name of my Filipino family is Nuesa, and their hometown is Rojas, which is a 10-hour drive from Manila. We were able to take a plane, so we didn't do the 10 hours, but we were able to see some of the countryside. We saw it up close and personal. They really had an itinerary for us. Every day, we had something planned, whether it was going out to dinner, whether it was- We explored this incredible cave and we took a canoe trip to this beautiful waterfall, and it was through this lush rainforest. So, I really got to see it up close and personal. It was incredible.”
At first, Demo was queasy at the prospect of meeting a family he had never known.
“I didn't really know what to expect," he told WAMC. "And it went beyond everything that I could have hoped for. I couldn't have hoped to have been welcomed into a more loving family. It was as if they had been waiting for me all their lives, and there was no uneasiness about it, and they all just welcomed me. In fact, a couple of my sisters broke into tears the first time they met me, because I look just like Papa, is the way they refer to my biological dad. So, it was it was just fantastic.”
The trip also answered some of his questions about how he ended up in North Adams.
“As it turns out, Papa was a medical doctor from the Philippines, and he did some sort of residency in Pittsfield at the old St. Luke's Hospital, where my mother was a nursing student," said Demo. "And that's where it began. I was born right here in Massachusetts.”
Demo was placed for adoption shortly after his mother graduated school.
Despite years of separation, the reunion was a smashing success.
“I didn't know how I was going to be accepted, necessarily, you know?" he said. "And they- It was as if, hey, where are you been? You're running late. There was no hesitation, they just greeted me and accepted me, and they're just such a loving people. One of the things in their culture is a respect for the elderly or older people. And I knew that this was a customed, but I wasn't ready for it, but the some of the nieces and nephews that I met would take my hand and place it to their forehead. And that's a sign of respect, and it's also asking for the elder's blessing as well. And they did that every time I met them.”
It was as if Demo was on a lifelong journey home, and managed to arrive just on schedule after decades of uncertainty.
“It completed me," he told WAMC. "It was a piece of the puzzle that was missing, and I feel whole, you know? I have- I mean, I had an identity before this, but this just sealed the deal, sort of. Yeah, and it opened my eyes to whole new culture- Just really happy.”
Demo says his sons have enjoyed following their father’s journey of self-discovery, and that he’s considering a return trip to the Philippines with his wife.
