A Family Reunion

Just in Time for Christmas

Last Christmas, Sue Wakefield decided to search for her Aunt and cousins, relatives she had not seen or spoken to for almost 30 years! The rewards of that one search on 192.com were priceless. This is her story...

“After my father had a major fallout with his mother 27 years ago, he moved away with his family leaving no contact details and so we lost touch with his whole family including 2 sisters and a brother and all their children. Last year I decided I wanted to get back in touch but found that no-one lived at their old addresses. I then discovered by looking at Death records which are now online that my Dad's sister and brother as well as his mother had all died in the intervening years. That left one sister unaccounted for. She would now be 73 years old and I hoped it wasn't too late but I didn't know how to trace her.

Just before Christmas 2007 I went online and found a message in my emails from 192.com that if I wanted to find a long lost friend or relative to do a search on their site which just meant inputting the name of the person you wanted and town, if known. I knew my Dad's sister had lived in Malton so I put in her name and whereabouts as Malton and imagine my surprise when moments later I had her name and address and phone number before me on the screen. I couldn't believe my eyes! It seemed too good to be true!

I picked up my phone, my hands shaking with excitement and heart racing and dialled the number wondering how on earth my Aunt would react to hearing from me, her long lost niece, after all these years. The phone rang several times and all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind, like would she be pleased or not to hear from me? I felt so nervous and was wondering what did I say to someone I hadn't spoken to or seen for nearly 30 years? The phone was picked up and a voice answered saying "Hello" which belonged to an elderly lady -it had to be her!!!

My Aunt got the surprise of her life to find out it was me calling. After I checked that she was indeed my Aunt Doreen, she said it was only days before her and her family had been discussing us and wondering what happened to us. One of my cousins had been trying unsuccessfully to find us for years. We spoke for about half an hour and I assured her I would be back in touch.

When I put the phone down I just felt so happy to actually have spoken to her when less than an hour before I didn't know if she was still alive! I was in fact over the moon about it and couldn't wait to let the rest of my family know. Since then, I have kept regular contact, my Dad has spoken to her and they have exchanged cards. Letters and cards have also been sent by my cousins to my family. I travelled up to see them all for a reunion visit which was wonderful and they visited us in turn shortly afterwards.

Being reunited with my Dad's family just before Christmas was the best Christmas present ever and I am very grateful for the help that the 192.com service gave me to make it happen”.