Gene Cartwright, General Manager of Team Hyundai, and his wife of 10 years tried and tried, but could not have children of their own. Finally, they made the decision to adopt.
At first they went to an agency to discuss their options and discovered that one of the easiest ways to adopt was an infant from overseas.
“We looked into various countries and realized that they all had different adoption rules. China required that we travel there and so did other countries, but Korea did not have the travel requirement,” stated Cartwright. The process took six months, but after myriad background checks and financial investigations and more, Cartwright and his wife got the call.
“The hardest thing is not really knowing when our child would arrive,” Cartwright said. If fact on the day they were supposed to pick up their son, they were on the way to Dulles International Airport when they received a call from the agency telling them that their child was coming into Reagan National. “We had to hurry and change directions to meet the plane on time.”
He admitted that the experience was rewarding, even though it was very expensive – from $12,000 to $15,000. “We arrived at the gate, everyone knew what was going on and out came our baby. It was great,” Cartwright said.
Three years later, the couple decided to adopt another child and the process was repeated. Cartwright smiled and said, “If you ask my oldest son, Chad where babies come from and he’ll tell you, ‘the airport!’”
Both Cartwright children, Chad and Kyle were adopted as infants. They were granted citizenship after being with their new family for six months.
Cartwright thinks it is a bit ironic that he is now the General Manager of Team Hyundai, a Korean built make of cars. “I was originally in insurance, and don’t really know why I ended up in the automotive business,” Cartwright said. He admitted that lately he has been a bit distracted with everything that is going on at the dealership.
Team Hyundai is part of Toyota of Southern Maryland and the dealerships are just about ready to move from their Great Mills Road location to their brand new location in Rt. 235 in California. “We’re pretty excited,” said Cartwright. On May 15, everything will be at the new dealership location.
“We’re trying to sell off as much inventory now as we can so we don’t have to move them.” He went on to say that every car on the lot is priced below sticker and deals are being made to clear the inventory before May 14.