Man, son to reunite for first time in 15 years

By Bill Erin

Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2008 | midnight

This is a Boulder City story that fits the Christmas season. It's about a prominent Boulder City man who will be reunited with his son during the holidays for the first time in 15 years.

Barbecue Brad Lane, former commander of American Legion Post 31 in Boulder City and proprietor of Bradley's Restaurant, who is renovating what was Two Gals restaurant, last saw his son when the boy was 7 years old. His ex-wife and the lad disappeared, he said.

Lane said he has spent thousands of dollars on private detectives over the years without results. He has never given up hope of someday reuniting with the son with whom he had become very close.

Then, in what he feels was possibly celestially guided, Lane was led to make a move that has turned his Christmas into the happiest of all.

Coming home one evening after a hard day's labor refurbishing the new restaurant, usually too tired to watch television, Lane said he unaccountably went over to the TV set and turned it on to a channel he seldom, if ever, watched. There was the story of a man whose wife had abducted their son and disappeared.

The man, after years of searching, one day decided to explore the Internet's MySpace.com. He was told it was full of Web sites by young people all over the world. And through this medium he located his long-lost son. The story fascinated Lane.

When it was over, he turned off the TV and headed for bed. Tired as he was, however, something steered Lane to the computer instead of bed. He typed the Web address into his browser and then typed in the name of his son, Kristofer Alan Lane.

To his great astonishment, it popped up immediately. Not believing it was true, Lane carefully examined the site, looked at all the photos of Kristofer and his mother, and finally came to the conclusion that this was, indeed, the son he hadn't seen for 15 years.

He e-mailed Kristofer, explained who he was and said, "I believe I am your biological father."

"Impossible," his son replied. "Mother told me you had died."

They compared notes and dates and finally reached the conclusion that Kristofer was, indeed, Lane's son. It was then Lane learned his ex-wife had died the year before.

Now Kristofer is coming to visit Lane during the holidays and Lane has picked out and purchased a Christmas present.

Lane said Kristofer calls him every day, and just the other day they were on the phone together for several hours straight.

"The feeling I get when he says, 'Hi, dad,' is an emotion I can't describe," Lane said. "I can't wait for him to get here so I can put my arms around him and hug him."

There's an even happier ending to this story. Strange as it seems, Lane's ex-wife has a half-sister he didn't know about. She now lives in Boulder City and works in real estate. She wants Kristofer to move here and work with her. Naturally, he now has the motive to do so and Lane thinks he will.

Ironically, last year, Kristofer visited his aunt here and toured Hoover Dam.

"He could have eaten in my restaurant and I wouldn't have known it," Lane said.

Divine intervention? Lane doesn't know, but whatever it was, he may be the happiest man in Boulder City. And he wishes everyone in Boulder City to have as happy and merry a Christmas as he anticipates.

And so do I!

Bill Erin is a Boulder City News columnist.