It’s wonderful to finally find my sister five decades on.. I can’t wait to meet her
Family on plans for special reunion as soon as Covid-19 restrictions are eased
Jenny Morrison It started 55 years ago with an accidental slip g of the tongue.
Five decades after Josie Drages-sDawes heard her mother Maryry McKenna cal l one of herer grandchildren by the wrongng name, she has now tracked downwn a sister she never knew she had.d.
Josie, who grew up as part off a large family, always believed shehe was one of 14 siblings.
Placed into a children’s home after the death of her father, she had no idea her mother went on to have a 15th child.
Josie’s daughter Beverley, 58, used social media to help find her long-lost aunt, Sylvia McCulloch, and now plans are being made for an emotional family reunion when lockdown restrictions allow.
Mum-of-six Josie, 75, of Paisley, said: “Growing up, I had no idea I might have another sister but when my daughter was very young, my mum would call her Sylvia. She did it more than once.
“I kept asking her, ‘ Who’s Sylvia?’ but she didn’t tell me and it made me wonder if my mum had another girl.
“To find her all these years on is just so wonderful. We’ve spoken several times on the phone and can’t wait now to finally meet.”
Sylvia, 69, who lives in London, said: “I didn’t find out until I was 18 years old that the parents who raised me weren’t my birth parents – and wasn’t given the true story about what happened.
“I’ve only found out since speaking to Josie and, in some ways, it feels like my whole life has been a lie.
“I’m so glad to know the truth now and to be reunited with the family I didn’t know I had.”
Beverley discovered that after Josie’s father died suddenly, her mum married a man who turned out to be a bigamist.
They had a daughter who was just weeks old when she was placed into the care of a foster family.
Josie was already among several members of her family taken into care after the sudden death of dad George McKenna, who died in 1949 aged just 45.
Despite her chaotic childhood, she remained close to several of her siblings and received occasional visits from her mum.
Josie said: “My dad died on the day my brother Frankie was born and my mum couldn’t cope raising such a large family on her own.
“She didn’t have enough for food or clothing so we were probably taken into care for our own safety.
“I was five years old when I remember I was outside playing in the street and two big taxis arrived.
“I was told to get into one of the taxis with my sister Louise, four, and my sister Gussie, 13, who had our little brother Frankie in her arms.
“There was a social worker in the taxi and I was sure we were going on a day out to the seaside but we arrived at Smyllum Park orphanage, in Lanark, instead.
“Four of my brothers were put in the other cab and taken into care, too.”
Josie, Louise, Gussie and Frankie spent much of their childhood living at Smyllum Park – an orphanage run by the rel ig ious order of nuns , Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul.
They also stayed at the Barrholm children’s home in Largs and had spells in and out of foster care. Josie had no idea that after her father’s death, her mother met and mar r ied Alexander Hillhouse, who it emerged was still married to another woman. He was arrested for bigamy and jailed for a year.
Their daughter, Sylvia, was placed with a foster family aged just three months.
Josie, who remained in care until she was 15, suspected nothing of her youngest sister’s existence until Beverley was born and her mother repeatedly called her Sylvia.
Josie said: “No one in the family who knew about Sylvia ever spoke about her.
“I think because of the bigamy it would have been a scandal at the time so everyone kept quiet.
I know now from my social work records that when I was growing up my mum often asked to come and visit us while we were in care but was told not to come.
“I think she got to visit us on four occasions over the years.
“I remember one time, when I was 14, matron took us all into the playroom and said, ‘McKenna family – this is your mother.’
“She was wearing a fur coat and a big hat and I thought she was some sort of f ilm star. I remember curtsying.”
A year later, Josie and her siblings returned to live with their mother, who by this time had remarried and become Mary Speirs.
Mary died in 1968, aged just 58. Josie found out about the
existence of Sylvia 20 years ago, after requesting to see her own social work records.
They detai led information about her mum’s marriage to Sylvia’s bigamist dad, Sylvia’s birth and her being placed with a foster family.
Josie made several fruitless attempts to track down Sylvia before Beverley used lockdown to make f inding her mum’s long-lost sister her mission.
The sisters have now chatted on the phone and hope to meet when coronavirus risks and travel restrictions allow.
Sylvia said: “I can’t wait until I can go and meet Josie and my other two sisters and my brother who are still alive.
“When I found out I had been placed in foster care, I was told it was because my birth mum had neglected me – and that she hadn’t wanted me.
“Now I know that wasn’t true. My mum didn’t neglect me – she couldn’t afford to raise me.
“My foster family were good to me and Josie has told me that I was probably better off there than being brought up the way the rest of my brothers and sisters were.
“But growing up I should have known I had all these brothers and sisters.
“To speak to Josie was so emotional and she has since put me in touch with my sister Gussie, too.
“I’ve found my family – or rather they’ve found me.”
FAMILY Josie’s sister Gussie and, above, brother Frankie my mum was Mary McKenna – so the little girl I was playing with had to be either Josie or our sister Louise.”
Josie said: “I don’t remember that day but I know it was probably more likely to be me than it was Louise.
“We did go to a foster home at Beech Avenue in Paisley, which was beside where we now know Sylvia was living.
“To think we spent an afternoon playing together takes my breath away.
“It’s an amazing coincidence.”