Sandra contacted the Stratford Press after her daughter, Katherine McBean, found a Facebook profile of the same name living in Stratford.
Not even 24 hours later, Wayne contacted the Stratford Press, asking for Sandra's contact details.
"I follow the Stratford Press on Facebook, I was scrolling down the page checking the latest news and I saw the old photo of Sandra, her mother and me. When I saw it, I got quite a shock," he says.
Wayne says it is fluke that Sandra found him, as he sold his Stratford property in February and moved to Nelson for his partner's work.
"It's quite lucky I never changed my location on Facebook."
He says he has been searching for Sandra as well.
"I couldn't find her number and she doesn't have a Facebook. It's lovely that we've managed to reconnect."
Wayne was born in Hāwera.
"I've always had an interest in Taranaki. I miss living in Stratford, especially walking the King Edward Park walkways."
Sandra says Wayne called her on Thursday, July 23.
"We had a very long call catching up on some of the things we missed out on. Things were the exact same, nothing had changed between us. It felt like we had only talked yesterday. I can't wait to see him again, we're arranging a time to catch up in person.
"I can't thank the Stratford community enough for helping me find him."
Wayne says that now he has Sandra's contact details they'll be in touch regularly.
"There's no doubt that we'll be catching up more frequently now."