Times Advocate, 1994-8-31, Page 1367111-jr;11' 10 Alk
Long -lost sister reunited with family
A search for a missing sibling ended here in Exeter last week
By Laura Santandrea - St. Marys
Journal -Argus - and Catherine
O'Brien - T -A staff
EXETER - It's the kind of story
that gives you a lump in your throat
when you hear about it and you
can't really believe that it's true.
That's how many people felt after
hearing the story of an Exeter wom-
an being reunited with her brothers
and sisters after a 54 year separa-
tion.
"I'm still trying to get use to the
fact that I have all these additional
family members," said Exeter res-
ident Mary Lou Tait. "There were
a lot of tears when all the families
came together," she said.
It was just two weeks ago that
Tait's sister Violet Ruskey and her
hitsband Bill contacted the Journal
Argus in St. Marys in an attempt to
find the long lost sister.
The Ruskeys told the Journal Ar-
gus that they and other family
members have spent the last 10
years searching for their little sister
who had been given up for adop-
tion in 1940 when she was two
years old.
On several occasions Ruskey had
contacted the Children's Aid So-
ciety in Stratford, where the family
lived back then, but received only a
minimum of information.
She found out that the baby,
named Mary Lou, had been adopt-
ed by couple who lived in a small
town in Perth County ... so she de-
cided to start looking in St. Marys.
The Journal published their story,
including all they knew about their
baby sister 'Mary .Lou'_ and a. baby.
picture.
"The first day (after the paper
came out) I got a call from a wom-
an in St. Marys who said 'don't give
up. It took me 18 years. If I can
help you, let me know,"' Ruskey
told Journal Argus staff.
Shortly after the paper came out a
woman living in Stratford read of
the search and remembered a child-
hood friend named Mary Lou who
had been adopted.
Tait said the woman called her,
asked for her birth date and told her
about the news article.
"As soon as my husband came
home from work I told him and we
got a copy of the paper," Tait said.
"When I saw the baby picture in the
paper I knew the story was about
me...I have the same picture of my-
self."
Tait said she didn't know what to
do. "I knew they wanted to get in
contact with me, but I didn't know
whether I should write or phone. I
wasn't sure what to say or how to
say it," she said.
Finally the they decided to con-
tact the Ruskeys in London. But no
one was home at the time. "I didn't
think it would be appropriate to
leave a message on the machine, so
we decided to call back later."
But before she had a chance, the
Ruskeys contacted them.
"We got home and there was a
call on the machine," Ruskey told
the Journal Argus. "We have one of
those call display phones, so we
dialed it and someone said, 'Hi, this
is Mary Lou.'
Ruskey didn't believe it at first. "I
sort of held back, because I was
told there could be crank calls,
(but) the longer I held back and
started asking questions. things
started to tie in."
Mary Lou, as it turned out, had
indeed been adopted by a couple
living in St. Marys in 1940. Their
name was Watson and he waS a
salesman for the Canada Bread
company.
When Mary Lou was 15, her par-
ents moved to Stratford. After her
marriage to Norm Tait, she first
lived in Mitchell and has been in
Exeter for more than 25 years.
They have four children and six
grandchildren.
Tait found out she had an even
bigger family, seven brothers and
sisters, their respective spouses,
children and grandebildren.
"Finding them now is perfect tim-
ing," Tait said. Her pusher died last
year and she'd been*inking about
trying to find her brothers and sis-
A
ters.
The sisters met for the first time
in 54 years last Saturday, when the
Ruskeys drove up to Exeter and
spent about three hours with Taits.
"I knew she wanted to see me,"
Tait said. "I sensed she was a bit
afraid I wouldn't want to have any-
thing to do with the family. That's
why I invited her to Exeter."
Once the two got together they
exchanged stories and shared pho-
tographs of each other families.
Tait said she was surprised to fi-
nally see pictures of her natural par-
ents. "I had an image of what my
mother would look like. But it was
nothing like in the pictures. She
was so beautiful," Tait said.
Since there was so much to catch
up on, Tait decided to invite all her
new found family to an annual pic-
nic at her daughter's home near
Kippen.
"I was so ams d that they all
showed up," Ta' said. "It was hard
for everyone there to fight back the
tears."
"There's been so many
weird things...
...There's been so
many near misses,
it's uncanny.
We've been so close,
yet so far."
•
Since these first few meetings,
Tait said she has found out that the
paths of the two families have
crossed several times over the
years.
"There's been so many weird
things," Ruskey said. "There's been
so many near misses, it's uncanny.
We've been so close, yet so far,"
she said.
In a startling coincidence, Vio-
let's father dated Mary Lou's moth-
er after both of their spouses had
died.
"But Mary Lou had met my dad,
and all he'd said was, 'We used to
have a Mary Lou'." Ruskey said.
He didn't realize he was meeting
his own daughter.
Other coincidences over the
years:
• Mary Lou's family moved from
St. Marys to Stratford when she
was 15. The house they moved into
was just five blocks down the same
street from the Gould family.
• Violet's brother-in-law at one
time worked with Mary Lou at
Woolworth's in Stratford.
• Mary Lou worked in the same
Stratford restaurant, a place called
Rankins, as her own birth mother,
and perhaps even at the same time.
• Mary Lou's natural brother
Lloyd Gould worked in Mitchell at
the cement factory with her hus-
band. When Tait left the job, he
started selling insurance. He sold
Gould insurance, not knowing that
his wife and him were brother and
sisters. Both lived in Mitchell at the
time.
• The Goulds had a family re-
union 20 years ago, choosing Exet-
er for its location, not king that
their own sister was, just a stone's
throw from the park where they
were celebrating.
• For a time, the Watson family
lived in Caledonia, right next door
to one of the Gould brothers. "My
brother said, 'I remember the Wat-
sons very well,"' Ruskey said.
"This is unbelievable. Every day
something else unfolds," Ruskey
said.
"I'm still trying t4_believe they
found me," Tait said.
Together for the first time last Saturday, Violet Ruskey (left) and brother Lloyd Gould were reunited with their sister Mary
Lou Tait (centre) of Exeter for the first time in 54 years.
1$010! Rusky and her brother Lloyd Gould only a few weeks
ago were hoping someone knew something about their long -
lost sister Mary Lou, who was given up for adoption when she
was two years old In 1940. The siblings had been searching
for Mary Lou for more than 10 years, knowing only she was
placed In a home In a small town in Perth County.
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