Father, 85, searches for 50-year-old daughter

Kenneth Blake, 85, is on a mission to find his daughter, who he is sure he would not be able to recognise today as a 50-year-old woman, but whose face as an infant still haunts his thoughts.

In fact, given the COVID-19 pandemic, fears for his own safety aside, he is now even more anxious to see if she is well.

"I would just love to find her," he said.

Blake says he met the child's mother, Beverley Williams, during one of his many trips across the island and a relationship developed. He later learnt of the baby and tried to regain contact with Williams. The baby was registered as Ann Marie Blake, born 1970, in May Pen, Clarendon.

Blake says he was "forced to travel, and work across the island" until he migrated. He says his personal circumstances changed significantly and he was unable to maintain the link.

'Never forgot my daughter'

"I never for one moment forget any of my six children. I loved my 'illegitimate' daughter then, and I love her even more now! But I take full responsibility for having denied mother and child the care and attention they were entitled to, regardless of my own severe economic and social reversals," he said.

"I still remember the day I took the mother and infant, Ann Marie, home to my family - with my deceased ex-wife's approval." He said that baby Ann Marie and her mother spent the first six weeks with his family before the mother and her newborn child departed to May Pen.

"I visited my daughter in May Pen, and regrettably, that was the last time I made contact with my little girl - almost 48 years ago," he said. "It was not possible during my period of serious social and economic downturn to have done what a responsible parent should have done, keep in touch." He recalled getting devastating news that he might have lost his child for good after a child was left with neighbours on the same road - Sunrise Drive in Kingston - where his wife's family lived. That child, he said, was reportedly rescued by the authorities and given up for adoption. He does not know if it was Ann Marie.

Blake said that he has tried to contact Williams, Ann Marie's mother, on several occasions, through various means, but with no success."I have travelled a long, rough, and winding road. Now at an advanced old age, I look in my rear view ... I see all my children, except Ann Marie ... Whatever the outcome may be, my hope and search should bring some peace of mind or closure to a sad and painful experience for everyone involved," he said.