They soon married and moved to the small town of Foster, Victoria. He bought a truck and would transport goods around the state. On the 14th of July 1947, their first child, Laureena Jeanette Mason was born. She was followed by Christopher Victor Mason (b. 13th December 1950) and Alexander Robert Mason (b. 30th March 1956).

They continued life as a normal happy family in Foster, surrounded by Eileen’s siblings and parents, who moved down from Melbourne.

During World War II, he joined the British Navy and served on the HMS King George V. When it stopped in Sydney Harbour in March 1945, he went ashore and met an Australian nurse named Eileen Betty Child. It was love at first sight. He went AWOL and disappeared with her back to Victoria, where she had grown up.

Throughout the 60’s-80’s, they watched their son Christopher go off to Vietnam, saw all three of their children get married, and welcomed six grandchildren (Tim, Shereen, and Keely to Laureena, and Peta, Christopher, and Rochelle to Christopher). Eric stopped driving trucks and worked part time as an orderly at the local hospital.

Towards the late 1980’s, Eric got sick with lung cancer. On his deathbed, he was joined by his three children and converted to Catholicism, the religion of his wife. He passed away on Wednesday the 11th of October 1989.

This is the story and series of events we were all told and believed. It wasn’t until the late 1990’s, that we learned the first half of that story was fabricated. Eric James Mason was not who we thought he was and the real story was full of scandal, heartbreak, and a secret family. But it would take 115 years from the beginning of the real story, for us to learn it.