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To my knowledge there have not been any intentional reunions other than incidental meetings at weddings & funerals. I have lived away from New Zealand for most of my adult life as a result of joining the Royal New Zealand Navy at the age of 17 years and then moving permanently overseas just seven years after leaving the Navy in 1970.In 1978 I settled in Melbourne Australia and married in 1984 to a lady that had been married previously and who had two children, Megan & David. They are both married now and are proud parents. Megan and Adrian have Ella who is aged 18 months (2 years on August 6th 2003)and David and Leah have Ashlie aged 9 months. Megan, Adrian & Ella Grace, live in Melbourne and David, Leah and Ashlie Page live in Adelaide. Adrians family are living in Melbourne, so Ella enjoys a special place in the lives of at least nine people in Melbourne. Ashlie has a similar number in Adelaide but we who live in Melbourne are missing out on seeing her growing. No doubt there will be opportunities to catch up with this a little further down the track.
With regard to relatives living in New Zealand; I have sent letters to all three of the Phillips family plus a letter to Brian McCombe, the eldest of the McCombes, apart from his mother of course, and am hoping for a reply fairly soon. The Freemans it seems are all contactable via e mail and I have requested details from them, but as yet no response. I am relying on my immediate family in Timaru to provide me with addresses for the MCGowans of Hawkes Bay and the two Lester girls. I think the younger of the two, Anne lives in Christchurch and Felicity now lives in Auckland.
Sadly we have experienced a few very untimely deaths in the family since I have been living away from New Zealand.These have been the losses of Les McCombe, Eddie Phillips, Betty & Ken Lester, Billie Read, Bert Railton & Doreen Freeman. I was able to return to New Zealand for the funeral of my father Bert in January 2000. Whilst there I was able to talk to and enjoy the company of Lyal & Doreen Freeman, my cousins Rosemary and Stephanie. Michael Adams, Stephanie's husband and Dave Unwin, Rosemary's ex. Unfortunately, it was not possible to attend the other funerals due mainly to work commitments. I miss them all, none the less.
It is sad to say but I have cousins that I've never had the opportunity to meet.These are Peter & Louise McGowan & Lee McCombe. It is also the case that I have never met the children of my cousins. Not one of them. I hope to put that right at some stage.I have not had the opportunity yet to see my sister Wendy's grand children, Seamus and Niamh. I'm looking forward to that as well of course.
My original intention was to provide a family tree that would cover only five generations.This is princably for the purpose of including it in a web page on the Railton's. If I am able to accomplish this, then perhaps I will extend it to cover a few more. For the moment though, this will be quite sufficient.
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