Sixties Scoop siblings meet days before brother passes

Since making the discovery, Lambert has been tracking down his brothers and sisters who are still alive. He found his older brother Leonard Morin just in time.

The two of them met each other at the Nipawin Hospital where Leonard was a patient. He passed away the very next day.

Donna Moran extends her hand towards her brother Leonard Morin while he battles complications from pneumonia. (Image Credit: Photo submitted/Ruth Morin)

“It was great. I was really happy to meet him. He was happy, he smiled, he was happy to meet me too, and we talked for a while. And the next day, he was gone.”

According to his wife Ruth, Morin, who was 79, was in the hospital dealing with complications from pneumonia, but he was expected to make a full recovery. His passing came as a shock.

A wake is being planned for Tuesday and Lambert, who now lives in Winnipeg, plans to attend and celebrate his brother.

Some of Lambert’s other estranged siblings have already passed on too. So, he said, while it is bittersweet that he only got to spend a single day with his brother, the stories they shared will never be forgotten. He recalled one in particular about Morin helping to fund the Cumberland Bridge that replaced the ferry needed to enter the community in 1996.

“In order to get the funding for that bridge, he carried a heavy cross from Cumberland House to Regina on his back to get that bridge built. I don’t know anybody that would do that.”

Lambert said he heard lots of stories about Morin’s selflessness throughout his life, but that bridge story in particular fills him with pride for a brother he never knew he had.

“I was real happy about it all, very proud of him. He did a lot of things for the people. He was all for the people, like he was very selfless. They wanted to name the bridge after him, the bridge that goes into Cumberland, and he said, ‘No. The bridge was for everybody. ’ He wouldn’t even put his name on it. That’s the kind of person he seemed to be. I heard so many great things about him. It’s incredible. I was really proud that he was my brother.”

Three united siblings together: Leonard Morin, Donna Moran, and Joseph Lambert together in hospital before Leonard’s passing. (Image Credit: Photo submitted/Ruth Morin)

Lambert was joined by his biological sister Donna Moran, whom he met for the first time earlier this summer, along with another one of their siblings Melody Roberts, who lives in Oregon. Although the two were separated during the Sixties Scoop, both end up in Winnipeg as part of different families.

Moran has been trying to track down her lost siblings for the past 40 years.

“The funny thing is, when we were being raised, I was raised up at 120 Lipton Street, and she was raised at 100 Lenoir Street, which is only two streets over… like a stone’s throw away, and we didn’t know it. We went to the same stores, same school, but she’s eight years younger than me,” Moran said.

Lambert is the last remaining member of his adopted family, which included his parents and three sisters who were also adopted. He said discovering his long-lost birth family has given him a new lease on life.

“I thought I was all alone. So I was sort of on a self-destructive path, and then I found out about my family, and it changed my life,” he said.

“They’re great people…like I talk to her on the phone all the time, the texting and that, and we get along great – the three of us were real, real happy together… like Donna, Melody, and myself, when we were together this summer.”

The next meeting with his siblings will be at the wake for their brother, and while he knows it will be a sombre occasion, Lambert said just being together is enough to make him smile.

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nick.nielsen@pattisonmedia.com

by Nick Nielsen

Sixties Scoop siblings meet days before brother passes

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