Tears flowed as Jack was reunited with his long-lost sister

Jan 31 2013 by Lynn Jolly, Paisley Daily Express

Tears flowed and the years melted away as Jack McCafferty spoke to his sister Christine for the first time in four decades.

Jack and Christine had been separated when they were children, with their lives going in different directions.

However, the two siblings never stopped thinking of each other – and both harboured hopes that, one day, they would be reunited.

Those hopes dimmed as attempts to trace each other over the years ended in failure.

But, just when it looked like they might never know each other’s fate, social networking site Facebook came to the rescue.

Sitting 10,000 miles away in Australia, Christine’s husband Brian managed to track down Jack at his home in Foxbar, Paisley.

Now the brother and sister keep in touch by phone and on Skype ... with a face-to-face reunion being planned for later this year.

And 57-year-old Jack admits that first three-hour phone call with his sister after all those years was an emotional event.

He told the Paisley Daily Express: “We both started crying.

“All the memories and things we had forgotten about came flooding back.

“Now I’m looking forward to seeing her again in person. There will definitely be crying galore when that happens!”

Jack was just three and Christine was six when their mum Ellen died tragically at the age of 31.

They were then brought up by their dad, also named Jack, before Christine moved out when her brother was 14.

“My mum died in 1958,” said Jack. “Dad told me he had left the room while my mum was sitting reading the paper and, when he came back, she was dead from a brain tumour.

“I was three at the time, so I only remember bits and pieces.

“When my mum died, my dad moved house to be nearer to his work and he met someone else, who had a family of three.

“I remember we all moved in together – the five children, my father and this other woman.

“Then, in 1970, my sister moved out when I was 14. She went to live with another family as a lodger.”

When Christine left, she took a black and white photo showing Jack and herself as children.

Coincidentally, former forklift driver Jack still has a copy of the photo.

It is the only snap he has of them together.

Jack, who is married to 52-year-old Wilma, said: “Later, in 1970, Christine visited our house to see my dad, my stepmother and me. She says now that I answered the door and she stayed for about an hour but I don’t remember.

“Three years later, she phoned. I was playing football at Glasgow Green and we arranged to meet there.

“She sat at the side to watch and I remember seeing her. She was with Brian, who is now her husband, but when I went to find her at half-time, she wasn’t there.

“That was the last time I saw her.”

Christine and Brian were married in 1974 and moved to Australia two years later.

The couple are now Australian citizens and live in Victoria Point, Queensland.

Jack, whose dad died of cancer in 1981, had no idea where Christine was and his efforts to find her were unsuccessful.

He said: “Finding Christine again was always on my mind. I thought about her a lot.

“Two years ago, I put a message about her on Facebook but got no replies or information.

“I had started to think that maybe she had died or she thought I was dead. I didn’t know this but, in August last year, Christine and Brian came over here to look for me. They didn’t know I was living in Paisley, so they couldn’t find me.

“They were staying in Uplawmoor – which is only 10 miles away from me.

“Then, out of the blue, I got a Facebook message from Brian, asking if I had a sister living in Australia. He had been trawling Facebook, looking for me.

“I just couldn’t believe I’d be able to speak to Christine again after all these years.”

Jack, who is dad to 26-year-old Steven and 21-year-old Mark, added: “When I saw Christine’s photo on Facebook for the first time, it was strange but people have been saying she looks like me.”

Since that Facebook message from Brian, things have snowballed.

Jack and 60-year-old Christine, whose married name is Montgomery, ‘instant message’ each other for an hour every day through Facebook, as well as chatting on Skype, and a Paisley reunion is planned for August.

Speaking from her home in Australia, mum-of-two Christine said: “I am just over the moon to be back in touch with Jack because I had thought about him for all those years.”

Jack added: “It will be emotional when I see Christine for the first time.

“I’m also planning to go out to Australia on holiday.

“None of this would have happened without Facebook. It’s incredible.”