In The News:

Group Grants Elderly Siblings' Wish for Reunion 
Saturday, June 30, 2007

CANTON, OH: This weekend, 80-year-old Eleanor Sykeny may be seeing her younger brother for the last time. 

Sykeny, a Jackson Township resident, and Donald Gerardot, a 79-year-old who lives in a nursing home in New Haven, Ind., haven't seen each other in nearly seven years. With both unable to drive - and Gerardot disabled since an accident at the age of 2 - the distance separating them makes another reunion unlikely. 

The Eleanor Sykeny and Donald Gerardot Family.  Click on the picture to read the story from the FW Daily News Online. Photo Courtesy of KPC Media Group

Never Too Late, an organization dedicated to granting wishes for the elderly, has arranged a get-together today at the McKinley Grand Hotel. A dinner will be followed by time for Sykeny, her brother and all other attendees - Sykeny has invited 20 - to enjoy each other's company. 

"Donald is tickled pink about it, and so am I," she said. "He's like a little kid in a candy store." 

Sykeny, who was the first manager of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's gift shop, also will meet Tim Smith this weekend, a nurse at the Harborside home where Gerardot lives. Smith contacted Never Too Late about setting up the reunion. 

"Tim is really watching over (my brother), and I think he'll be the most wonderful person I'll ever meet," Sykeny said. 

Sykeny and Gerardot were born in Monroeville, Ind., and lived there with their parents and two other siblings until 1942. 

"Dad was a farmer and wasn't making any money," Sykeny said. So the family packed up and moved to Alliance. 

Bob Haverstick, the founder of Never Too Late, said his organization, in business for seven years, has granted more than 1,300 wishes. Of today's wish, he said, "They both have an inkling that they should see each other now." 

Gerardot and Smith will spend Saturday night at the hotel and visit Sykeny before heading back to Indiana on Sunday. The departure, Sykeny said, will undoubtedly be tearful. 

"I always cry when somebody has to go back," she said. "You never know if you'll see them again." 

Reach Repository writer Joseph Gartrell at (330) 580-8562 

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