Sydney woman's three-decade search to reunite veteran's ashes with family

A former carer is hoping to solve a three-decade mystery and finally reunite a family with the ashes and belongings of a war veteran.

Throughout the mid-90s, Teena Wobcke cared for veteran and former watchmaker James Howard in his Ermingtion home in Sydney's west.

Howard was an isolated man who "didn't leave the home very much", according to Wobcke, who looked after him for over two years until his death in 1996, at age 75.

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At the time of his passing Howard did not have a next of kin, and Wobcke, then aged in her 20s, was the only one with a personal connection to him.

She was therefore asked to collect his belongings from the nursing home he was sent to shortly before he died.

"I was given a bag of his belongings, and there were photographs in there, photographs of his life, with a wife, with children," Wobcke said.

"There were birth certificates, a will, information about his time in the army.

"I was shocked, because I didn't know that these people existed."

Along with his possessions, Wobcke was given Howard's ashes.

While the name of his wife remains unknown, what is known is Howard grew up in Dunedin and moved to Australia, where they married in Newcastle.

They also had two daughters - Donna Patrica Howard and Carol Betty Howard -who would be about 70 to 80 years old if they were alive now.

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After failing to locate his family over the last few decades, Wobcke contacted A Current Affair in the hope our audiences could help her track them down.

"I'd be honoured to give him back to someone in his family, but I just don't know what happened and that's been the mystery for so long," she said.

"I've held onto him for so long because I just didn't feel right.

"I just couldn't displace him somewhere without trying to find someone belonging to him to give back these beautiful photographs and memories of his life.

"So if I can find them, it would just be amazing."

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