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Stories

• Magda Sasvari

Vernon Wilson

Burnaby resident reunites with family after 53 years

Vernon waiting for the arrival of his three daughters at Vancouver International Airport

Three names and three birthdates on a four-inch square piece of paper is how the Restoring Family Links (RFL) program helped Vernon Milford Wilson, 80 years old, reunite with his daughters after 53 years. 

Over the past decade, Vernon’s wife Pat had tried various ways to help her husband reconnect with his lost family but was never successful until a colleague at work recommended the Red Cross.  After sharing her story with Erlinda Lintag, RFL Coordinator in the Lower Mainland Region, Erlinda immediately sent all necessary paperwork to the National Office in Ottawa in July 2006.  Several months later, Erlinda received word from the New Zealand Red Cross that they had identified and located the three daughters, Laura, Maree and Aloma - two of the daughters reside in New Zealand and the other in Australia. 

A very excited Laura tried to contact her father immediately but without success at first.  When she finally reached him (at George Derby Long Term Care Facility where he is residing) she cried with disbelief.  The daughters had tried roughly thirty years ago to find their father, including connecting with the Canadian Embassy and calling every Vernon Wilson in the Vancouver area.  Their persistence and determination led to no results.   They assumed their father had passed away and gave up looking.  The family still can’t really believe how the Red Cross was able to reconnect them after so many years. 

“We are so grateful to the Red Cross for finding my husband’s family.  Restoring Family Links is just amazing,” says Pat. 

“We never thought the Red Cross offered a program like this.  We are so glad a service like this exists or else we would have not known our father at all.  This program gives hope to many people who are looking for their loved ones,” says Maree, second-born daughter.

	Laura and Vernon's first hug after 53 years

The family finally reunited, after many weeks of emails and phone calls, when the daughters came to Vancouver to visit their father earlier this year.  The emotional reunion was evident to onlookers at the airport as the girls and father hugged and cried in the arrival area of YVR.  Fo the next three weeks that followed, the family reconnected, shared stories and grew together as a family, along with two half-sisters who live on Vancouver Island.

This amazing story is just one of many that the Red Cross Restoring Family Links program is part of.  Working with over 180 Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies around the world, the program helps many families reconnect with loved ones.

(L-R) Aloma, Laura, Vernon, and Maree

Pat and Vernon not only gained three daughters in their lives, but also eight grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

 

Photos by Darlene Sunderland