Orphaned by war, Elke Weber finds long-lost American roots at nearly 80

JAMESTOWN, N.C. — Every morning, Elke Weber starts her day with the same simple ritual — a cup of strong coffee brewed by her husband, Walter. After 60 years of marriage, the pair has built a life together that feels like the American dream. But for Elke, that dream began an ocean away and under the shadow of war.

Born in Germany in 1946, Elke came into the world just months after the end of World War II. Her mother, a young woman struggling to survive in the aftermath of the bombings that devastated Darmstadt, made an agonizing choice — she left her newborn daughter at a Catholic orphanage, unable to care for her.

“I was an orphan,” Elke said. “My mother told me my father was an American soldier, but nothing more.”

Decades later, after moving to North Carolina with her husband in 1981,