Emma Rymes, 94, Is Reunited With Her Son After 67 Years

Thanks to a church leader and the power of the Internet, a 94-year-old woman has been reunited with her son after almost seven decades, NBC News reports.

Emma Rymes last saw her son, Robert Fainelli, 67 years ago.

She and her husband had gone through a bitter divorce and she had moved to California from Connecticut under the assumption that her 6-year-old son would soon be joining her on the West coast.

Instead, Rymes' ex-husband took Fainelli and disappeared, the Victorville Daily Press reports.

"You wouldn’t believe how many years I’ve thought of him and tried to find him but never did," said Rymes.

Decades went by but Rymes, who now lives in a senior living facility in Apple Valley, Calif., refused to give up hope.

Last month, she told her sister-in-law, Mary Fantino, that she wanted to renew the search for her son.

According to NBC News, Fantino then went to her priest, Father Nicholas Carpenter, for help.

"I went on the computer and started going over the search engines, just trying to find his name and where there might be a relationship," Carpenter said. "It came up fairly quickly."

After a few hours on Google, Carpenter said that he found an address for a 73-year-old man named Robert Fainelli.

Fantino immediately wrote him a letter.

"I told him if he was not interested it was O.K. because his mother knows nothing of what this letter is," Fantino said. "I mailed the letter on Tuesday and then Thursday morning at 9 o’clock, I got a call from him. I thought I was gonna pass out right there."

Fainelli, who is married and has children -- and grandchildren -- of his own, said he'd been looking for his mother for more than 40 years.

Mother and son were reunited last month.

"I had lost most of my family and thought I was alone," Rymes told the Victorville Daily Press last week. "Now I have a son and grandchildren. This will be the best Mother’s Day ever."

Rymes has yet to meet her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but NBC News reports that she cannot wait to do so.

Note: Emma Rymes' and Robert Fainelli's names are spelled differently in the NBC News and Victorville Daily Press reports. NBC News has used the names Emma Rymas and Robert Fianelli. For consistency, we have followed the spelling used by the Victorville Daily Press.

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paulsnextwife

8 Fans

05:06 AM on 05/21/2012

That is a wonderful story. Frankly, I'm terrified to look for my birth parents. My biological parents were married when I was born, and had 10 other children. According to my adopted mother, the father thought I was the product of an affair and refused to allow me to come home. My bio mother gave me to a nurse that took care of her after I was born--my adoptive mother. They refused to sign any papers, and moved out of the state less than a year later. I would like to try to find my family, but I'm afraid under the circumstances of my birth, our reunion would not be a "Montel Moment," if you know what I mean.

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Caren Lissner

50 Fans

10:21 AM on 05/21/2012

That's sad and you are a brave person for writing about it here. But I would bet that some of those brothers, sisters, or maybe your mom think of you often and wonder where you are (or even if they don't know of you, at least some of them would be thrilled to meet their little sister)...it sounds like your mom was very pressured by your dad and perhaps has spent a long time feeling bad and wondering what came of you. Men can be so difficult, and with 10 kids at home, he probably really pressured her. To have a baby and have to give it up is pretty sad, but I guess it happened at the time. You can do all this anonymously and reach out tentatively without it being a Montel Moment, at least reach out to your mom.

msminnie

200 Fans

07:57 PM on 05/17/2012

I'm happy they were able to reconcile. It really shows that custodial interference- how's THAT for a euphamism?- has been around forever.

LeftoftheLeft

1008 Fans

10:34 PM on 05/18/2012

Or at least for 67 years.

;=)

saannie25

43 Fans

07:24 AM on 05/17/2012

just goes to show us that a mothers love for her child never goes away, such a bitter sweet story, so much time wasted. I wish divorced parents would stop using their children to get back at the other parent, this is so wrong to keep a child away from the other parent, unless it's in the best interest of the child. I hate to hear of children that are involved in a tug of war between 2 divorced parents, it's so wrong.

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dahpunkster

author, cartoonist people watcher

309 Fans

07:10 PM on 05/16/2012

how sad they were kept apart so long

rltballer

why is equality difficult for some to understand?

944 Fans

06:37 PM on 05/16/2012

What a wonderful story.

bmitche

662 Fans

06:32 PM on 05/16/2012

What a wonderful Mother's Day present. I'm sure she still sees him as her baby boy.

sylvia arotin

119 Fans

I think this is the most wonderful thing to have happened in both their lives. I have to agree with bmitche.

marylou93063

125 Fans

07:02 PM on 05/16/2012

Of course - our Sons are always our babies-

stepman123

17 Fans

06:31 PM on 05/16/2012

I think I read this story as a Kid. Wasnt it about hanzel and Gretta

KellyMBray

278 Fans

06:49 PM on 05/16/2012

You never cease to disappoint.

farrellclan4

10 Fans

06:27 PM on 05/16/2012

How did you do this exactly? My shenon has been looking for his father Billie Jerriett Escalle since he was old enough to walk' That would have been 51 and a half years ago wh to en he started tyo walk. Without a valid ss security and the fact that the VA hospital refuses to let anyone in the Oregon Southern Rehab contact this gentleman it is largely impossible. Perhaps someone knows this person who would be a Korean Vet age. His living relatives seem to have lost contact There arent that many any suggestions?

creddell6

100 Fans

06:43 PM on 05/16/2012

I'm not sure, but my dad disappeared and I found him by going on some website for military vets that I found by searching for locating people. I didn't have his SSN, just his name and date of birth and I thought he was born in Texas, but wasnt sure. Several names came up, same name, but I narrowed it down to his age and then put that info into a person search and found him..........good luck to you!

Jane Jay

22 Fans

12:28 AM on 05/21/2012

I did a quick search and found an answer to this question on another site. Did you ever see that answer? A man said that Billie Jerriett Escalle is his uncle and he can put the two of you in touch... if you didn't see it, I'll bookmark it now, just reply to this comment, and I'll post it here. Hope you are able to find him.