A mother and son from Cambridgeshire and Michigan have been reunited after 58 years apart, thanks to an ancestry DNA test. Calvin Barrett, 64, had been searching for his mother, Molly Payne, 85, for nearly 40 years after being separated when he was a child.
Ms Payne met Calvin's father, Bob Barrett, in the 1950s while he was stationed in the UK with the US Army. They married in 1955 and moved to the US, where Calvin was born in 1957. After the birth of their second son, Ms Payne returned to the UK, intending to go back to her children, but she never did. She sent letters and gifts, but her sons never received them.
Calvin began searching for his mother after his father died in 1984. The breakthrough came when his daughter, Mackenzie Barrett, took an ancestry DNA test that matched with Ms Payne's nephew, Stephen Payne. The pair first connected on Facebook in May and spoke daily before meeting at Heathrow Airport earlier this month.
Calvin described the reunion as filling 'an empty spot in my heart'. Ms Payne said she 'couldn't believe it' when she learned her granddaughter had found her. The family are now looking forward to spending their first Christmas together in 58 years, with Calvin planning to return to the UK in December.
