Ninety-five-year-old Norman Cooper was more than a little surprised when he answered the phone in his Florida home, only to be confronted by complete stranger asking questions about his birthplace near London, England.
“’Are you Norman Henry Cooper?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Were you born in Croyden, Surrey?’ I said, ‘Who the hell are you?,’” Norman recalled in an interview with CTV Toronto.
It was the beginning of a family reunion almost a century in the making. Thousands of kilometres away in Aurora, Ont., Norman’s 90-year old little brother Gerry was waiting to meet a half sibling he hadn’t seen in 85 years, and put an end to lingering questions about his family that his mother refused to answer.
Five years ago, Gerry’s son Ian used the popular family history website Ancestry.ca to research his grandfather - that's when he found out about his long lost uncle.
“(I was) never really thinking he’d still be alive, because from the records that were found he was born in 1921,” said Ian.
While Norman and Gerry have led different lives in different countries, the nonagenarian siblings seem to have rekindled their bond without missing a beat.
“I’m the good looking one,” said Gerry, chiding his long-lost brother.
Along with their new found friendship, the brothers have also discovered some details about their father’s life -- including the fact he was married at least three times.
Family history aside, the Cooper brothers are looking forward to making up for lost time.
“To go through life for 85 years, and not know you had a brother around, and then all of a sudden he pops out of the blue,” said Gerry. “It’s bloody amazing.”
