Michael hess biography philomena lee
Michael hess biography philomena lee
Michael hess photos!
Lost boy in 'Philomena' was 1974 ND graduate
SOUTH BEND -- Michael A. Hess never stopped searching for his birth mother.
Before he died in 1995 at age 43, he made arrangements for his ashes to be buried at his birthplace, Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Ireland, in case his biological mother went there looking for him.
His Irish birth mother, Philomena Lee, spent years searching for her son.
She finally found his gravestone at the abbey in 2004.
Hess, a 1974 University of Notre Dame graduate, was adopted as a toddler and raised by an American family. He started searching for his birth mother before he started college, and later made trips to Sean Ross Abbey seeking help from the nuns there in tracing his Irish family.
He didn't succeed.
This true story is told in the recent film "Philomena," starring Judi Dench as Philomena Lee. The film is based on a 2009 book by Martin Sixsmith, a former journalist who helped Lee in her search.
It wasn't until after Hess' death that Lee learned