SASKATOON -- A 74-year old Saskatoon man has finally met his three half-brothers after a trip to France this month.
Earlier this year, Michael Sovyn completed his search to discover the identity of his father, a French soldier named Lucien who died in 2000.
He also found three half-brothers in France – Alain, Christian and Jean-Marie.
- 'I was a total resemblance of my dad': A Saskatoon man’s tireless search to find his family overseas
Despite the risk of COVID-19, Sovyn travelled to meet them. He feared that if he waited any longer, he wouldn’t get the chance because of their advancing ages.
“When I was walking out at the airport, they said I looked like my dad in a younger stage of life.”
The brothers’ meeting made national news headlines in France and the quartet become French media stars for a few days.
Sovyn said it was a dream come true for him and his wife and daughter to finally meet the family he searched for.
Sovyn’s trip lasted 16 days and included a trip to his father’s gravesite.
He also got to visit his father’s home, which one of his brothers still lives in, as well as watch videos of his dad when he was alive.
This gave him a window into his dad’s nature that he had longed to know about and it turns out, there are similarities in personality.
He heard about his dad’s ability to make a conversation last hours even if it was only intended to last a few minutes. Michael says he is the same way.
“I was surprised to see the videos. There he was in the kitchen with his grandchildren. He was cooking with them with a chef’s hat and apron. He walked away from the stove and things started burning. My family said, ‘that’s just like you dad.’”
He said the grandchildren he met in France were endeared to the Canadian and started calling him Papa.
His brothers also gave him a logbook that his dad had while stationed in Germany.
“We found amazing things like my mom’s name was mentioned three times in there that he was seeing her in Germany. They went to places my mom told me they visited with him like Marseilles and Holland.”
Now Sovyn hopes his family will come to Canada to see the rest of his children.
