A heartwarming video has captured the touching moment a brother and sister are reunited after 45 years of living on opposite sides of the planet.
Tony Beckett, 69, and Mary Dunstan, 72, last saw each other in 1979 before Mrs. Dunstan moved to Adelaide, Australia.
On April 16, the pair had an emotional reunion at Norwich train station in England after 45 years of not seeing each other.
“I didn’t realize it had been so long,” Mr. Beckett, from Cantley, Norfolk, said. “Now the moment is here, I’m nervous.”
Following the death of Mrs. Dunstan’s husband in 2021 and Mr. Beckett’s wife in 2023, the siblings knew they needed to reunite soon.
Mrs. Dunstan got “the pennies together” for the 22-hour flight back to the UK and arrived in early April.
Years ago, she left the UK for a better future for her kids.
“We didn’t make a mistake,” Mrs. Dunstan said. “All our children have done well—there are no regrets.”
However, she admits she has missed her family in the UK a lot, especially her brother as they were the closest siblings in terms of age.
“We fought like cats and dogs, but we were all very close,” she said.
The siblings remember having a great childhood with their father working as a herdsman on the farm. Mrs. Dunstan was trained as a nurse at the old Norfolk and Norwich Hospital, and Mr. Beckett became a porter at St Andrew’s Hospital in Thorpe.
The last time Mrs. Dunstan visited their hometown was in October 1979, shortly after the birth of her daughter, Sam, who accompanied her on this year’s trip back.
Over the past decade, Mrs. Dunstan had been caring for her husband, who suffered from dementia. Due to the strain of caring for him, she had not considered a reunion until now.
Meanwhile, Mr. Beckett said his mortgage and living costs had prevented him from taking a trip to Australia.
Since the special reunion, the whole family has planned to get together and relive their childhood memories.
