81 Years Old Reunited with Her 103 Years Old Mother after 60 Years

An 81-year-old Irish woman has been reunited with her centenarian mother for the first time recently after searching her for more than 60 years. Now, with this reunion, it is a life long celebration for both the daughter and her mother, who turned 104 this Saturday.

Octogenarian Eileen Macken never met her mother, as she grew up in a Bethany Home orphanage in Dublin. At the age of 19 years, Eileen started her search for her mother. Last year she contacted Ireland’s RTE’s Live line with an appeal to help her in finding her mother.

A year later, at the start of this year, a genealogist called Eileen and informed her that they have tracked her mother in Scotland. It was incredible news for Eileen, but she was hopeful as she says, “Once I heard that, nothing would stop me trying to get to see her”.

Eileen travelled to Scotland to meet her mother last month and finally met her mother, Elizabeth. Eileen describes the moment when she met her mother. She was reading the days newspaper when she saw her. Eileen says, “I said we were from Ireland and she said ‘I was born in Ireland’. I then said: ‘You know I’m your daughter’ and she just looked up at me and she took my hand”.

Eileen told RTE’s live line programme, “I went over to see her and she’s the most beautiful lady, lovely family, they gave me a great welcome. We came in and honestly I am grateful to them for welcoming me. They accepted me and I had a great chat with my mother.”

Eileen who is a mother of three, also discovered she has two half brothers. The meeting had made her happier than she could have imagined, she says, “We had three days of wonderful happiness that I have never had before”.

The bond between them is still strong after so many years as Eileen says, many years have passed in between but the bond is still there, “I think it’s nearly gone past her, but there was such a bond between the two of us. It was fantastic.”

Eileen was always optimistic that one day she will be successful in finding her mother and therefore she never gave up her search for 60 years, which finally led her to find her mother.