Son reunited with mother after 60 years

A pensioner from the Black Country got the best birthday present of her life when her long-lost son turned up after 60 years spent apart.

Pat Van Punt celebrated her 85th birthday yesterday with the son she gave up at birth and never dared dream she would see again. The pensioner was recently reunited with 62-year-old Tony Ryder who she gave up for adoption.

She fell pregnant with Tony in 1945 shortly before his father William Gibbons, an American serviceman, was called away to fight.

William never knew the baby was on the way and Pat is still not sure whether or not her former love survived the war.

After the war, Pat, of Willenhall, got on with her life, marrying Dutchman Gerrit Van Punt and working as a postal clerk.

But her life was turned upside down when she received a telephone call out of the blue from Tony, who was living in Leeds.

Tony, a retired teacher, spent years trying to track down his mother, only to discover she was now living less than a mile away from where she lived when she gave him up for adoption.

After searching through reams of records and using internet search sites, it was the humble telephone directory that eventually bought the pair together.

“I looked her up in the telephone book and it has all worked out well, we are getting on well,” he said.

Tony said he had thought about trying to contact his mother for years but it was only when his adopted parents and siblings died that he started a proper search.

Pat celebrated her birthday at her home in Oak Road with her daughter Tess, aged 60, and her new-found son.

She said: “It was a bombshell when he telephoned.

“In those days when you put a child up for adoption you didn’t hear anything, it wasn’t like it is today.

“I was with my daughter when he called and I hadn’t told her anything about it.”

She added: “It has all had a very happy ending.”