A simple game of backyard catch with his brother.

For Don and his brother, Ron, that game was nearly 80 years in the making.

Snap!

As the leather popped, Don, a 78-year-old Tonganoxie resident, finally got to play catch with his brother outside Ron’s California home.

With each toss of the ball, the long-lost brothers connected. Although they were in the later innings of their lives, they were just beginning their relationship. Baseball, a familiar sport, was working its magic once again.

Don, a retired construction project superintendent, was overseeing a family tree project when he discovered Ron, a brother he never knew he had.

In November 2024, Don submitted a DNA sample to Ancestry.com to explore his family origins. When the results arrived, he learned he had a potential close relative who could be an uncle or half-brother.

“I was betting on an uncle; my paternal grandfather had a history, if you know what I mean,” Young said.

With that information in hand, Young slid headfirst into messaging Ron through Ancestry.com’s messaging service, which allows users to communicate while protecting their anonymity.

After exchanging messages, the two eventually spoke by phone and discovered they were brothers.

“We talked for 90 minutes. Ron knew very little about his birth father but knew his first name was Murriel.”

The brothers wondered whether their father even knew of Ron, now an 81-year-old Santa Clara resident.

Ron Ahearn served three years in the U.S. Army before returning to California, where he spent 40 years working in manufacturing. His work included producing military hardware and equipment, such as the Bradley fighting vehicle.

After their first phone call, Young dug deeper into their family history and discovered the brothers shared the same middle name: Murriel.

They also found common ground in their interests, including family, conservative lifestyles, baseball and classic muscle cars.

Although there is still much to learn about one another, Young felt blessed to share a photograph of their father with his brother. Until then, Ahearn had never seen a picture of him.

Young also learned that his brother had been a standout high school athlete.

“Ron competed against Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in high school baseball; he even got a couple of hits off of him.

As the brothers played catch beneath the California sun, Young reflected on the emotions surrounding their first handshake.

“I had so many emotions. I fought regret because we spent more than 70 years without knowing each other. But that regret lost out to joy, joy that I’ve met my brother and look forward to spending more time with him. God, in His infinite wisdom, has a plan for our lives.”

That first meeting also produced a moment the brothers won’t soon forget.

“We both wear hearing aids, and he wears a Life Alert device. Not only did our hearing aids shriek with feedback when we got close, but Ronnie’s Life Alert device was accidentally triggered. The next few minutes were then spent dealing with calls from his kids and the Life Alert folks calling to make sure he was okay.”

The brothers are okay. And as they look ahead, they have plenty of time to get to know each other, one conversation and one game of catch at a time.