MAY 26 • 2022 | 13
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MAY 26 • 2022 | 13
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he pretty, outgoing little girl always
knew she was adopted and therefore
felt very special. Her late parents,
Rachel and Jack Pludwinski of Southfield,
did not believe in keeping the adoption a
secret from the child they named Susan
Beth Pludwinski.
Susie, 62, now known as Susan Simons
Liebman of Coral Springs, Fla., left
Michigan in 2010 when her now deceased
husband, Steven Simons, accepted a job in
Florida. She married Zach Liebman in 2020.
But neither Susie nor the parents who
lovingly raised her knew the identity of her
birth parents. To Susie’s ultimate surprise,
her history included a heart-wrenching
drama coupled with acts of kindness.
An only child, Susie was doted upon by
her parents and her mother Rachel’s rela-
tives. Her father, Jack, employed as a furni-
ture upholsterer, was a Holocaust survivor
from Poland who had lost everyone. Susie’s
Hebrew name, Chana Freidel, was given in
memory of Jack’s parents.
The Pludwinskis lived on Selkirk Street
in Southfield. Susie graduated from
Southfield-Lathrup High School, studied
early childhood education for two years in
college, married her first husband, Ronnie
Tarockoff, and gave birth to four children.
Their three daughters live in Metro
Detroit. Abbi (Chef Pete) Tarockoff
Emerson, 39, teaches Sunday school at Adat
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
Halli Tarockoff, 37, is a paralegal at Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah Boys Division in Southfield.
Their sister is Mallory Tarockoff, 32. Susie’s
son Benji (Dr. Meri) Tarockoff, 35, of
Miami is a business executive.
Rachel and Jack were always attentive
parents and grandparents who picked up
the grandkids from school and hosted fun
sleepovers.
“I had a very special childhood,
” Susie
said. Even so, she often thought about find-
ing her biological family.
In 1982, when she and Ronnie were
married, they visited the Oakland County
courthouse in search of her adoption
record. They were denied access because
hers had been a closed, private adoption,
but did receive a letter containing “uniden-
tified information.
”
Susie learned she was born into a family,
not named, with three other children. The
parents were older, Jewish and gave her up
for adoption because they couldn’t afford
another child. They stipulated that their
baby should go to another Jewish family.
Though excited by these details, Susie
postponed searching further for her identi-
ty while her adoptive parents were alive. “I
would never want to devastate them,
” she
said. “I was totally all they had besides my
own kids.
”
DNA BREAKTHROUGH
When Susie first took 23andMe’s DNA
testing kit, she was underwhelmed with
the results, matching with only very dis-
tant third to fifth cousins. “I’m done,” she
continued on page 14
PHOTO BY YEVGENIYA GAZMAN
PHOTO BY YEVGENIYA GAZMAN