Leona Autrey v. Patricia Roberts Harris, Etc.

This is an appeal from the denial of surviving child insurance benefits sought under the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 402(d)(1). Appellant Leona Autrey was divorced from Herman George Fisher in 1967. Fisher was the natural father of appellant’s son Ross, and the adoptive father of her daughters, Catherine and Debra Sue. She has testified that no hostility resulted, and that both she and the children had frequent contact with Fisher after the divorce.

That contact came to an abrupt end in June of 1969. Fisher, evidently piloting a small plane, departed a Kansas airport and radioed an…