After 60-year search, 81-year-old woman reunites with 103-year-old mother

A woman who has spent 60 years searching for her mother has met her for the first time.

Eileen Macken, 81, who lives in Dublin, first began her search for her birth mother when she was 19.

She grew up in a care home in the city, and had never met her birth mother – until this month.

Ms Macken appealed to Irish broadcaster RTE to help her find her mother after a strenuous search to find her relative had given her no answers.

RTÉ’s Liveline agreed to help the 81-year-old track her mother down.

After the programme put her in touch with a genealogist, they discovered her biological parent, Elizabeth Macken, was living in Scotland.

She went to visit her mother alongside her husband George, along with her daughter and son-in-law.

“I went over to see her and she is the most beautiful lady,” Ms Macken told RTEafter the meet up.

“She was reading the newspaper and when she saw me, I said we were from Ireland and she said ‘I was born in Ireland’.”

“She was thrilled and she never let go of my hand.”

She also discovered she had two half-brothers during the trip – one of which she met before her mother when she answered the door.

“I told him I was from Ireland and that I had found my mum here and could we come in to see her, and he said ‘certainly’,” Ms Macken said.

“We came in and, honestly I haven’t got over the acceptance that I got.

“They accepted me and I had a great chat with my mother,” she added.

She told RTE since she went on the trip, she will “never be able to come down off the cloud.”

“We had three days of wonderful happiness that I’ve never ever had before.

“I don’t think I’ve done any work in the house [since she came back], I’m that happy. I’m going around singing.

Ms Macken Sr will celebrate her 104th birthday this weekend.

(inews.co.uk)