Nearly five decades after their father’s death two brothers meet for the first time

Not the snow, not even the bitterly cold temperatures could keep Corey Larsen away.

It’s a day he’s been waiting 48 years for.

“I was doing some research on our father James D. Gablehouse. Over the years I’ve run some dead ends on where he was buried and any kind of history on him,” Larsen said. 

That was until four weeks ago. Corey found James T Gablehouse on Facebook and sent him a message.

“It was kind of heart stopping. The moment I saw it I just kind of knew who he was because I couldn’t imagine why anybody else would be reaching out and asking questions about a man who had been dead at this point for nearly 50 years,” James Gablehouse said.

Their father, James D. Gablehouse lived in Lincoln and served in Vietnam before returning to the Capital City and becoming a police officer.

On January 16, 1971 at just 23–years–old James D. Gablehouse was killed in a car accident near Sioux City, Iowa.

Five months prior, Larsen was born and nine months after the accident Gablehouse was born.

The two men knew one another existed, but didn’t know anything about each other. They both tried finding one another, but were unsuccessful until that Facebook message.

“It was like the floodgates opened and we just wanted to know more about each other,” Gablehouse said.

“It was 48 years of questions unanswered that finally got the reply on what I was looking for,” Larsen said.

Larsen, now living and Denver, and Gablehouse, now living in Minnesota, decided to meet in Lincoln.

On a snowy Saturday afternoon the two men met face-to-face for the first time.

“It’s hard to describe. Grace, my daughter, was asking me before what it would be like and I said I don’t know I’ve never had to meet my brother for the first time before,” Gablehouse said.

Standing by their fathers graveside at Wyuka Cemetery they shared tales of their childhood.

Despite the somber reminder their fathers life was taken too soon a bond was forged.

“Now I have another brother and you know there’s a whole 48, well 47 in my case, to catch up on,” Gablehouse said laughing.

“There’s really no words. I can’t even think of words of how I felt you know. Complete,” Larsen said.

A tragic ending offering hope of a new beginning and building a bond between two brothers that will last a lifetime.