REUNION A JOYFUL FINISHING TOUCH.

Byline: ANN LANDERS 

Dear Readers: Remember "Jim in St. Charles"? He's the man who wrote looking for Bea McGraw, a woman he and his wife had met on a flight to Atlanta. Bea had given their newly adopted daughter a $20 bill. After Jim's letter appeared, Bea wrote to me, and I printed her letter. She said she was making plans to come to Missouri and visit Jim and his family in St. Charles.

I'm happy to say that Jim and Bea connected, and here's what I received in the mail today:

Dear Ann Landers: Thank you so much for the wonderful experience you made possible by printing our letter. When I first wrote to you, all I wanted to do was thank the woman who had been so kind to us. With only her name to go on, I hoped that she or a friend might see your column.

This succeeded better than I could ever have imagined. Bea, a teacher in Frankfurt, Germany, heard from a multitude of friends all around the world, some of whom she hadn't seen in 20 years. She wrote you to say she was coming to see us. Two local TV stations and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch covered our reunion. We exchanged gifts, shared remembrances, had dinner and promised to stay in touch.

I am so glad I was able to share with Bea the joy that I feel having adopted our little girl. Bea is as nice as she seemed when we first met her, and she told us this was the most exciting month of her life.

If any of your readers are interested in foreign adoption from Russia, I would like to recommend the Small World Adoption Foundation in St. Louis. The address is: 1270 Fee Fee Road, St. Louis, Mo. 63146. The agency has more adoptable children on its list than parents who can take them.

Please let your readers know that acts of kindness do count for something. They help make this world a better place. And so do you, Ann.

-Jim, Charlotte and Valla

Mielziner, St. Charles, Mo.

Dear Jim, Charlotte and Valla: That cheering you hear in the background is all those readers who were hoping you and Bea McGraw would reunite. And you did - in a great big way. I love stories with happy endings, and this certainly is one. And now, let's hope Small World is equipped to handle the mail it is bound to get.

P.S. Be aware that foreign adoption can be costly.

Dear Ann Landers: I have a problem that's been gnawing at me, and I'm not sure how to handle it, so I'm writing to you.

My father, a successful businessman, passed away two years ago. Mom is alive but ailing. My father's will stated that everything he had would be divided between Mom and his children. My brother, "Peter," was named executor.

Peter is still working on getting the estate in order, but he refuses to tell any of us what is happening. He has a credit card that the estate pays for and has been taking some nice trips, the last one to Hawaii, even though Dad had no business there.

Peter and I always got along well, and I don't want to make any trouble. What should be done?

- Southern State Dilemma

Dear Dilemma: Two years is a long time to be "putting an estate in order." It's time to ask Peter approximately when you can expect your share of the estate.

Incidentally, you can learn from the clerk of the county probate court if your brother has been filing an inventory and accounting of the estate. The law requires this.