A Wellington woman has held a dark secret close to her heart for eight decades. One of sheer heartbreak and sorrow.
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In the 1950s aged just 16 she had a baby in a Melbourne Hospital which was taken away from her and adopted because of the shame on her family.
"At the time I didn't know or understand how or why this happened. My father looked at me and said you are having a baby," Ms Rossi said.
For six months she was under the care of the St Joseph's sisters in Melbourne.
"They were good, they were kind. It was a deeply distressing time in my life and their love carried me through," she said.
"I was worried and so was my family this would bring disgrace to us. There were eight other teenage mums under care those were dark times but there were periods of great joy."
When it was time to have her baby Ms Rossi was taken to the Melbourne Hospital. She glowed as the little boy was delivered.
"But I cried because I never got to hold him. I later signed the adoption papers not long after the birth of Anthony in December of 1950 and that's the last I knew of him.
"When I signed the papers the Josephine sisters were marvellous, kind and giving.
"I went home and later married always thinking of the child I had lost. The memory of him had left a horrible empty feeling in my soul and for many years I wondered and tried to find out where he was."
Then one day at a railway station Ms Rossi's life took a change for the better. Her boy now a grown man arrived. Thirty years on the reunion was special.
"My daughter said I wore out the concrete on the railway station platform waiting to see him. He was now 38 he had found me through an agency and in Dandenong on that day my life changed again forever," she said.
Tears and love, amazement is how Ms Rossi describes the meeting.
"In an instant the love for the child I had birthed came back. I felt like I knew him , there was a connection. When I saw him I knew there was still connection he looked like one of my other sons," she said.
"In those days he was train driver. He got the day off to meet me again. I was so proud."
Since then the now 81 year old keeps in touch with the child taken away 65 years ago.
It has left deep scars on the woman who these days does charity work in Wellington.
"I took to the bottle for a while, drowning myself in the misery of losing a child. I had difficult times pondering how life could have been much different. I now understand how the situation of having a child out of wedlock was so bad to so many and I have been sober for 40 years," she said.
She said telling her story might reveal something about a tragic time where love eventually conquers all.
"Today we meet again and roar with laughter about the years we have missed and the lives we have lived in between. From sadness can come great joy. The birth of a child is the greatest gift god can give until it's taken away," she said.
The sisters of St Joseph's are looking back at 150 years in 2016.
An event will be held in Wellington on March 19 part of celebrations which go on worldwide.
Ms Rossi might just drop by and say thank you again.
