ago led 42-year-old Philadelphian Mr. Eugene Kelly to Bermuda -- in a desperate search for his real parents.

Mr. Kelly always knew he was adopted, but until he came upon the slides he had never thought to question the story told by his adoptive parents; His mother was from a wealthy Halifax family and died shortly after giving birth to him.

But the slides showed otherwise. And unfortunately Mr. Kelly's adoptive parents -- who lived in Bermuda in the 1940s -- are unable to shed any light on the identity of his biological parents.

His American father Mr. Patrick Kelly died in 1980. And his American mother Mrs. Elizabeth (Libby) Kelly is suffering from the mentally debilitating Alzheimer's disease.

"I have shown her the slides and tried to ask questions, but nothing registers,'' Mr. Kelly said.

But something certainly registered with Mr. Kelly while he was looking through the slides for the first time.

"One of the photographs just hit me between the eyes -- it startled me,'' he recalled. "There was no question in my mind I was looking at a picture of my real parents holding me. The resemblance was uncanny. The man in the picture was an adult version of me and the new-born baby in the woman's arms was me.'' The search for his real parents got underway when, having not received any answers from his adoptive mother and her family, his wife wrote to the National Adoption Clearing House after reading how a woman had been reunited with her real parents with the help of the agency.

Mr. Kelly and his wife, Susan, arrived in Bermuda last week to continue the search.

With the help of a local private investigator he has been travelling around the Island, visiting places shown in the old photographs and looking up Bermudians who knew his adoptive parents or worked at the old Bermuda Mercantile Company.

The photographs include those of a woman clearly pregnant and standing outside a Bermuda cottage with his adoptive parents; looking happy and healthy with a young man believed to be his father and holding a baby he "knows'' is him; of a Catholic priest and a gathering at what is believed to be his christening in July, 1950 at St. Joseph's Catholic Church; and of the Bermuda Mercantile Company and a sign below it stating "a division of Sears Limited''.

However, so far Mr. Kelly, who was born on July 5, 1950, has only been able to cross off names from the list of Bermuda residents whom he thought would have some answers.

And he came up against a brick wall at the Registrar General in his efforts to obtain his birth records, which are sealed and legally cannot be opened.

The couple are contemplating legal action, but as Mr. Kelly points out, the birth records may not take them any further in their search because it is not necessary for the mother to name the biological father.

Mr. Kelly already knows his real mother's name because it appears on an adoption document he found in his mothers's drawers -- along with the slides -- while clearing them out after she was taken to hospital.

The name appearing on the document is Catherine Mary Sears. Mr. Kelly found out while here that there is no official record of her death.

Local private investigator Mr. Alistair (Angus) Brown has put together a possible theory that Ms Sears may have been a member of the wealthy Sears family -- who own the booming department store chain, Sears-Roebuck. Mr. Brown intends to trace the Sears family tree.

He further thinks Mr. Kelly's adoptive mother and father were living here with Ms Sears, who may have been sent to the Island by her well-to-do family to have the baby so as not to embarrass them. He speculates there was an informal agreement the Kellys would adopt her child.

"But we don't know anything for sure and we have not gotten many answers here,'' Mr. Kelly said.

The couple, who have three children of their own, left yesterday. The next part of their search is contacting a man who was a close friend and co-worker of Mr. Kelly's adoptive father but moved from Bermuda to Virginia.

Mr. Kelly said he never questioned his adoptive mother and father about his real parents for fear of upsetting them. But now the "barrier'' holding him back is gone with the death of his father and his mother's illness, he points out.

He wants to find out who his real parents are to "become a whole person'', to finally know the truth about his adoption and from a health point of view because he has three children.

"It's important to know where you come from and what your family's medical history was,'' he said.

SEARCHING -- Mr. Eugene Kelly, pictured with his wife Susan, was born in Bermuda on July 5, 1950 but given up for adoption to an American couple living here soon after. He was on the Island last week searching for clues to the identity of his real parents.