Archive Article: Family Reunion. 4th Feb 00
December 27, 2008

There is never a dull moment at Wesley Mission. One can never know where an enquiry may lead.

Some months ago, a Karen Clinch of Richmond NSW rang Wesley Mission to get some information about Dr Frank Rayward, who was the Superintendent of the Mission from 1938 to 1958. She was looking for her birth mother and this information on Dr Rayward would assist her enquiries.

This is what we now know. The mother was Judith Elizabeth Amy Wilson, who at the age of 17, gave birth to the current Karen Clinch in 1958 out of wedlock. Karen was taken from the mother so quickly that Judith never found out Karen’s weight or length

The baby was never mentioned in family conversations. Judith was told that she should not try to look for her daughter until the death of her own parents.

Dr Rayward, was an old friend of the Wilson family (and had married Judith’s parents). He arranged for Karen to be adopted by a Methodist minister, the Rev Jack Leonard and his wife Patricia, who were his close colleagues. Karen grew up knowing she was adopted but no great fuss was made of it. She had a good childhood and has had a successful life.

Then suddenly, in the middle of last year, Karen had a nagging feeling that she ought to look for her birth mother. She sought assistance from a number of organizations, not least being the Department of Community Services, whose “Adoption Search Guide” she says is a very helpful book.

Karen located information on her mother’s marriage at the age of 21. She found the man her mother had married living in Canberra. But they had been divorced for ten years. Through him Karen located her mother, now living in Perth.

We now know that last year, Judith, just two weeks before Karen had the nagging feeling that she should look for her mother, had herself asked for prayers in her local church that she now find her daughter. Judith then also started to use the official channels to search for her daughter.

This type of search is not easy. There are ways for a mother or child to prevent the other from finding them. To try to break that veto is a criminal offence. However, neither Judith nor Karen had imposed that veto and so both could use official channels to start looking for each other. The search was successful after only two weeks.

There are some remarkable similarities between mother and daughter, even though they have never met since the day of the birth in 1958 and they now live on either side of the continent. Both began as Methodists and are now Anglicans, both are church office assistants, both sing in their church choirs, both help run kids clubs for their churches, both organize ladies craft nights for their churches, both lived in Canberra in the 1980s in adjoining suburbs, both love roses, and both have had five children.

They intend to meet in Sydney in time for Karen’s birthday in April this year. In the meantime, the coincidences continue. Karen has found out that one of her colleagues at work is married to a grandson of Dr Rayward.

BROADCAST ON FRIDAY FEBRUARY 4TH 2000 ON RADIO 2GB’S “BRIAN WILSHIRE PROGRAMME” AT 9 PM, AND ON FEBRUARY 6TH 2000 ON “SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE” AT 10.30 PM.