WHEN Bernadette Radoo was three years old, her father Ulric Marks went away to England.

For over 50 years She had not seen him again.

Radoo became a wife, a mother and a grandmother.

And in the midst of it all she had one wish: to see her father again.

On September 25 last year, Radoo's lifelong dream was on the way to becoming a reality.

"I was at home at the time and my dog started to bark. When I looked outside I saw a van with three men inside it," Radoo said during an interview at Express House in Port of Spain yesterday.

"One of the men came out of the van and asked me if I was Bernadette Radoo," she said.

Radoo answered in the affirmative.

"The man responded 'then you are the person we are looking for. You know how long your father has been looking for you?'"

The man turned out to be a private investigator hired by Marks.

Inside the van was another private investigator along with Radoo's uncle, Vesta Marks.

"It felt like a dream. I could not believe that it was happening, I started to cry and thought 'Lord I wish this is true'. I cried so much I could not talk," she said.

Radoo hugged her uncle.

"Then (Vesta) pulled out his phone and called my father who was in St Vincent," Radoo said.

She was able to speak to her father over the phone.

The reunion between father and daughter was envisioned by Radoo's paternal grandmother.

"My grandmother died the month before my father and I were reunited but on her deathbed she told my father 'do not worry you will find Bernadette soon'," Radoo said.

Radoo met her uncle and spoke to her father over the phone on a Sunday.

Marks was scheduled to celebrate his 76th birthday the Thursday afterward.

He got the best birthday gift he could have wished for.

Radoo flew to St Vincent to reunite with her father.

"When I saw him I started to cry. I could not stop crying. This was the moment I lived my whole life for. I felt like my life was finally complete," she said.

Father and daughter hugged and cried for what seemed like forever, Radoo said.

She spent two weeks in St Vincent getting to know her father.

Radoo is Marks' only child.

Last month Marks travelled to this country to spend time with his daughter and his extended family.

"When he came down he just fit perfectly into the family, everyone loved him, the children, the grandchildren everyone accepted him with open arms," Radoo said.

Radoo said being able to reunite with her father after five decades is a "miracle".

"I prayed for this day to come, I prayed to be able to see and talk to my father again and it happened. Miracles do still happen."