by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 30/97) - They've spent a lifetime apart.

But even the Atlantic Ocean couldn't keep Jim Turner and Violet Sykes from finally seeing each other.

Born in Essex, England, the siblings haven't seen each other since May 25, 1928 when Turner set sail for Canada to live with their brother, George. Their mother died years earlier.

More than 300 letters and 69 years later, they are reunited.

"They say miracles never happen, but oh, yes they do," said Sykes, who travelled to Yellowknife from England for the family's first reunion this month. "It had to be now or never."

Now in their early 80s, Turner and Sykes have been planning the reunion for more than four years. "Ever since their (Turner's) wedding anniversary four years ago, they wanted to get together," said Turner's daughter Jennie.

Sykes daughter, Carol Hoyles, gave her mom the plane ticket at her 82nd birthday celebrations this year.

Sykes, who's kept her brother's sailing card from 1928, said it's good she's lived to see her brother.

"We've done nothing else except chatted (since coming to visit)," she said.

The Turner family, consisting of seven children, 22 grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren, all live in Yellowknife.

"It's great getting to know my dad's family," said Jennie Turner. "We have hundreds of relatives in the North. It's nice putting some faces to the names."

The family looks forward to seeing each again. "It's Uncle Jim's turn to come over the other way," said Carol Hoyles.

But for now, they will take back a caribou claw to small-town England as one of their many Northern souvenirs.