Sisters meet after half a century
11 August 2009
For more than 50 years Lorna Haines could not list a family member as next-of-kin.
From March 24 this year, the Kommercial supported employee has been able to name her sister, Rosie.
Meeting at the Ballarat train station after a lifetime apart - in what Lorna’s Kommercial service co-ordinator, Ryan Gibbons, describes as “a pretty touching scene” - the sisters embraced.
“I don’t usually get very emotional,’’ says Ryan. “But that was one of the most satisfying moments I’ve had since I’ve been with Karingal.’’
Lorna’s existence was discovered by Rosie following the death of the pair’s mother, and the bequest of a box of old photos.
Among the pictures was a photograph of a little girl, with the name Lorna Haines scrawled underneath.
Rosie suspected the child in the pictures was a sister and contacted the Department of Human Services, asking how to make contact with a relative she had never met.
While Rosie had been abandoned by her mother as a child; left standing outside a milk bar, Lorna’s childhood was a mystery.
Early this year Lorna received a letter from DHS, asking her to assist with an enquiry. It was on responding to the department’s request she discovered she had a sister, about ten years older than herself, living just a few hours away, in Hamilton.
Initial communication between the pair was assisted by DHS and included the exchange of letters and photos.
After some months, it was decided the pair would meet halfway between Hamilton and Geelong, at the Ballarat train station.
Ryan drove Lorna to the station and supported her throughout the reunion.
“I think she was probably a bit nervous on the way up,’’ Ryan says. “She was pretty giggly …nervous sort of giggly.’’
Walking into Ballarat train station, neither Lorna or Ryan knew what to expect or what the outcome of the meeting would be.
“But it was like a scene from a movie,’’ he says. “As soon as we walked through the door they looked at each other and then gave each other a big hug. Rosie had flowers.’’
Since then, the pair has stayed in contact and Rosie had given Lorna a framed baby photograph of herself; significant as the single childhood legacy she possesses.
For Ryan, the experience has affirmed his choice to work with people.
“Some days, like other jobs, it’s just about getting through everything that has to be done, all the admin and so on, but being part of something like this, well, it makes you feel pretty good …it’s what it’s all about.’’