After 47 years, brother, sister find each other

When her brother Joseph died two years ago, Elneda Mallory figured she was the last of nine siblings still alive.

She grew up in Lake Charles, La., during the Great Depression, the fourth child born to her longshoreman father and housemaid mother.

But a story that features an older brother, an unscrupulous Beverly Hills lawyer and a Florida woman who tracks down heirs to unclaimed estates ends with Mallory discovering that her baby brother is living 1,200 miles south of the little yellow house in Shoreline where Mallory has lived with her husband, Al, for more than three decades.

Mallory, an 81-year-old retired nurse, and Richard Robinson, a 73-year-old former sheet-metal worker, long thought the other was dead. In fact, Robinson and another brother, Walter, were declared legally dead some years ago by their older brother, Wilbur Robinson Jr. who was apparently trying to get his hands on the old family home in Louisiana.

Mallory and Richard Robinson haven't seen each other in 47 years. Two weeks ago, they spoke on the phone for the first time in decades. They've talked every day since, sometimes twice a day.

Finding each other after years of searching, wondering and grieving has been a blessing that's brought untold joy to their twilight years, they said.

"For years and years, I dreamed about him. I thought he was dead and he thought I was dead," Mallory said. "It was quite a shock, a happy shock" to learn he was alive.

Robinson said he tried to find his sister after he was discharged from the Navy in the late 1960s. He went to Lake Charles and Los Angeles but found no trace of his relatives. He hired lawyers and a private investigator, but their searches came up empty. The letters Robinson sent to Mallory's old house in Seattle's Central Area were returned, unopened, instead of being forwarded to her Shoreline address.

"I thought I was the only one left, but the good Lord showed me different," Robinson said in a phone interview from his desert home in Palmdale, Calif. "After all these years, I just couldn't believe it myself.

"I found my family again. All I want to do is send all my blessings to her. I love her very much and I'll stay close to her — that's my promise."

Mallory said she lost track of Robinson when he was in the Navy; she had no idea where he was or how to contact him. Without any word from him for so many years, she just assumed he, like their other siblings, had died.

Mallory and Robinson credit Margaret Galasso of Spring Hill, Fla., for reuniting them.

Galasso runs a home-based business finding heirs to unclaimed money or property.

Three years ago, she stumbled upon nearly $65,000 in unclaimed money that was part of Wilbur Robinson Jr.'s estate. The case sat on her desk until a few weeks ago, when she found Mallory.

Some time before Wilbur, the older brother, died in Southern California in 1996, he had hired a Beverly Hills attorney to be the executor and trustee of his estate, Galasso said.

Apparently on the advice of his lawyer, Wilbur Robinson had his two brothers, Walter and Richard, declared legally dead — a step that was meant to ease the transfer of the deed on the old Lake Charles house to Wilbur, his brother Joseph and sister Elneda.

It is unclear whether Wilbur knew if his brothers were alive or if he presumed them dead.

While researching Wilbur's estate, Galasso discovered that the attorney Wilbur hired had been disbarred in 2000 for several acts of misconduct.

Galasso and Mallory suspect the attorney took up to $200,000 in cash and property, including antique guns and coin and stamp collections, from Wilbur Robinson's estate. Galasso said Los Angeles County officials are launching an investigation into how the estate was handled.

Searching through death records and databases, Galasso couldn't find evidence that either Walter or Richard Robinson was, in fact, dead. She tracked down Richard Robinson's unlisted phone number through a neighbor, then called and quizzed him about his life.

"The turning point for me was when he told me what street he lived on in Lake Charles. I was like, 'Oh, my God, it's him!' " Galasso said. "I was flabbergasted — this guy is alive and he's been alive all these years."

She wonders if Walter Robinson — who would now be 79 — could still be alive somewhere.

When Galasso broke the news of a surviving sibling, first to Robinson, and then to Mallory, both expressed disbelief and shock.

"Everybody kept saying, 'No, no, that's just impossible,' " Galasso recalled.

But in the weeks since, the siblings have lost no time re-establishing their bond. Both say they don't care if they ever see any of Wilbur's money — and that they hold no grudge against their late older brother.

Just before 4 p.m. Tuesday, Mallory's phone rang. It was Robinson, calling to say he'd received copies of the old family photos Mallory had mailed him.

"Yeah, that is a lot of memories. ... Don't your mom and pop look good?" asked Mallory. She listened for a few moments, then said, "I'm glad you got the pictures — and you'll be getting more. OK, honey, have a good evening now. Love you."

She hung up and reminisced about sweet, easy-going Richard. He was always Mallory's favorite, the second-youngest in the family who didn't inherit the wild streak shared by the other Robinson boys.

"I'm just living in another world, I'm so happy. I'm rejoicing," said Mallory, who on Nov. 4 will celebrate 50 years of marriage. "I really want to see him bad. And he wants to see me."

Though Mallory had hoped Robinson could attend the anniversary bash her children are planning for next weekend, his wife isn't healthy enough to travel. But Mallory is already talking about making a post-Thanksgiving trek to California, and Robinson is planning a visit to Shoreline next year.

Al Mallory, a man who communicates his devotion to his vivacious, funny wife with loving looks and gentle touches, quietly vowed to make a reunion happen: "The main thing for me is that they see each other, and I'm going to do all that I can to see them get together."

Sara Jean Green: 206-515-5654 or sgreen@seattletimes.com