REUNITED

Published on 3rd May 2007 in News

Rose Parkinson shows off a photograph of her sister Lillian.

It was a fairy tale come true for a Swinefleet woman recently when she was reunited with the long-lost sister she never knew she had.

Rose Parkinson (80) has spent a lifetime believing that she only had one other sister, so was in disbelief on her birthday earlier this year when her niece told her that she had been researching the family tree over the internet and not only had she managed to trace Rose's family back six generations, but had discovered that Rose in fact had an older sister called Lillian.

Lillian Harvey (89) now lives near Bury St Edmonds in Suffolk and the sisters, two of four daughters, were sent to different children's homes when they were young.

Rose and her sister Phylis were sent to a children's home in Bradford, while Lillian and her sister Brenda went to a Dr Barnado's children's home in the South of England. Sadly, Phylis and Brenda have since passed away, and the reason why the sisters were separated still remains a mystery.

Rose told the Goole Times this week that she has been in telephone contact with Lillian ever since they made the astounding discovery, but was even more thrilled when her husband Reg and family friend Ernie took her on a surprise visit to see her long-lost sister two weeks ago.

She said: "We went down unexpectedly to see Lillian, and when we got to Bury St Edmonds, we rang Lillian and told her to put the kettle on.

Emotional meeting

"Seeing her for the first time was better than winning the lottery, I could cry just thinking about it. I thought I was the only one, then this happens.

"Lillian and I will definitely be keeping in touch now and making the most of getting to know each other now we are in our twilight years."

As Lillian and Rose are now the only siblings left, they are delighted to have found each other at last and have been in touch weekly since their reunion.

Rose, who suffers from Parkinson's Disease, added that she hopes Lillian will be able to make a trip to Swinefleet in the future so she can show her sister this part of the world and spend more time together.

She said: "We hope we have a little while longer to get to know each other. At the moment, we just try to catch each other whenever we can."