Together again
Mother and daughter back together after more than four decades apart
A mother and daughter have been reunited after 43 years of separation.
When Carol Chartrand embraced her daughter for the first time in 43 years this month, she clutched on tightly and was overheard saying she would never let go again.
The reunion took place at Mount Margaret Manor in St. Lawrence where the resident was reunited with Cindy Alm.
“Her reaction was I have waited 43 years to hold you in my arms again,” Alm told The Southern Gazette last week when describing the emotional reunion with her mother.
Due to health reasons, Chartrand had to place her daughter in foster care at the age of three. She was then adopted by Lucinda and Ernest Storey from Pierson, Man.
“She knew the best thing for me was, hopefully, to be adopted into a good family,” Alm said.
She said her mother’s concern was that her daughter have a good upbringing — the kind she felt she was unable to provide for her.
“She met my adoptive parents before I was adopted,” said Alm, who grew up on a farm six miles north and two miles east of Pierson.
“It was a good upbringing that I had,” she said. “I was raised in a Christian home, and I have a brother,” Alm said, explaining her family also later adopted her sibling from Chartrand.
Alm, now makes her home in Brandon, Man., with her husband Harvey and their two daughters. She explained she did not originally set out to find her birth mother.
“I went to the Child (and) Family Services in Brandon, Man.,” she said. “I was doing a search for my medical history for the purpose of my children.”
Once the paperwork was processed, she got more information than she expected.
“I got a phone call from (the) Child and Family Services office in Winnipeg, Man. — they called me with Carol’s name and phone number. They said it was up to me what I did with (it) after that.”
When Alm was 12, she was told she’d been adopted, but it wasn’t until she went looking for her medical history she found out her mother had tried searching for her before with no luck.
Alm said it took her close to a year to work up the courage to contact her mother, but once she did they remained in contact.
“I sent her pictures of me growing up after I was adopted, when I started school, (of) when I got married, and then when we had our family,” she said.
Alm said over the last two years, she and her husband have planned the trip to Newfoundland to meet her mother — the time consumed by a mix of organizing and working up the nerve for the visit.
The couple faced a momentary setback when they arrived in St. John’s and a mix-up at a car rental provider left them without transportation to the Burin Peninsula.
Not to be discouraged, the couple made alternative arrangements and arrived in St. Lawrence on the evening of Sept 10.
“The nurses that evening when we phoned and told them we were in town, my mom was so excited for us to get to see her that Martha and Shelley — the two (workers) that were on that evening — came and picked us up and took us over to the ( facility),” Alm said.
Her mother was waiting at the door when they arrived. Alm said her husband compared her mother to a runner on a starting block.
“As soon as the door opened she just ran into my arms. It was a very special emotional moment,” Alm said.
Being in contact with her mother did not prepare Alm for how she felt on the first meeting.
“It was very emotional to be with her face to face because talking to her on the phone (then) being there, I was able to put the voice and the face together,” she said.
During the long-awaited reunion, Chartrand told those in attendance she was the happiest women alive.
The couple also said they were overwhelmed by the warm welcome and kindness shown to them during their visit to the town. They stayed at efficiency units owned by Graham Tobin, who also provided a car for the couple to drive during their stay.
Before leaving, the couple was already planning their next visit with Chartrand. They all agreed it will not be another 43 years before they see each other again.
“It was definitely not long enough,” Alm said of her visit.