After a 17-year quest, a pensioner has
been reunited with his long-lost relatives thanks to a kind barmaid and
the power of facebook.
George Smith spent decades searching for his sister Frances Everett but always drew a blank.
The 69-year-old was a boy when he was
separated from his siblings and put in a children’s home after his
family split up.George feared he might never trace his relatives.But a
casual conversation with barmaid Laura Lawson changed everything,
reports the Daily Mail Record
The pensioner and his wife Alice, 73,
got chatting to Laura when she served them at the Glynhill Hotel, in
Renfrew. George mentioned to the barmaid about his quest to find his
family and she put out a request for information on Facebook.Within two
days, George’s nephew and other relatives he never knew existed had been
traced
“Laura did in two days what I had tried to do for 17 years. She has been very, very good.
“Unfortunately,
Frances passed away in August 2008 but I have now got other family I
didn’t know I had, including her son William. I am over the moon with Laura’s help because I have closure now.”
George’s
family were originally from Anderston, in Glasgow. He was put into
Gryffe Castle children’s home, in Bridge of Weir, after his father died
at the age of 36.
I was taken from Glasgow by the city
council and put into Gryffe Castle. Then, I was fostered out to Banff,
in Aberdeenshire.My late brother told me there were 10 of us.”
Offshore worker George, who now lives in
Aberdeen, met Laura when he stayed at the Glynhill Hotel before having a
hip operation in Glasgow.
She took some notes about his family and got on to Facebook.
Laura, 33, from Hawkhead, Paisley, said: “I wrote a Facebook post that I shared on a few Paisley pages.
“It
ended up with more than 500 shares and hundreds of likes and I had
people from places like East Kilbride and Aberdeen showing an interest.He
had been looking for her for 17 years and, after two days, through
Facebook, he received messages from people who knew his relatives.”
