The Unexpected Guest Who Became Family for 45 Years
On December 23, 1975, Rob and Diane Parsons were preparing for Christmas in their Cardiff home when an unexpected knock interrupted their evening. Initially hesitant to answer after already compensating carol singers, Rob, now 77, decided to open the door. Standing before him was a man with several days' stubble, dirty clothes, and messy brown hair – Ronnie Lockwood, a childhood acquaintance Rob hadn't seen in decades.
A Frozen Chicken and a Life-Changing Decision
Ronnie immediately handed Rob a black bin bag containing all his possessions and thrust a frozen chicken into his hands. "Don't you know who I am? I'm Ronnie Lockwood," he declared. Rob's memories came flooding back of the boy from Sunday School who had disappeared at age 11 after being taken from his parents and placed in what was described as "a school for subnormal boys" 200 miles away.
When Rob asked about the frozen chicken, Ronnie explained someone had given it to him for Christmas but he couldn't cook. The couple invited him inside, where Diane prepared a roast dinner. As they ate in near silence, they learned Ronnie had been sleeping "here and there" with no permanent address.
From Temporary Stay to Permanent Home
After hushed conversations while Ronnie watched television, Rob and Diane decided to let him stay through Christmas, insisting he shower and let Diane wash his clothes. They bought him last-minute gifts and took him to midnight carol service, beginning what would become a lifelong relationship.
As Boxing Day passed, the couple realized they couldn't send Ronnie back to the streets. When Rob consulted homeless authorities, he encountered the classic catch-22: "To get a job, he needs an address. To get an address, you need a job." They offered their spare room temporarily while Ronnie established himself as a dustman.
The Challenges and Joys of Blended Family Life
Those temporary months turned into years, then decades. Ronnie proved both frustrating and endearing – meticulous with washing up but needing constant reminders about personal hygiene. Diane once confessed: "I don't know whether I am his friend, his sister, his social worker or his mother."
When the family expanded with children Katie and Lloyd, they considered asking Ronnie to find his own place. But when Rob approached him, Ronnie asked plaintively, "Have I done a bad thing?" – a phrase from his care home days. Diane intervened tearfully, declaring they couldn't send him away.
Rob later discovered the trauma of Ronnie's childhood: in 1953, his parents told him he was going on a "little holiday" alone before social workers took him to a home where cruel initiation rituals left him with lifelong knee injuries from falling off a glass-topped wall.
Stepping Up During Family Crises
Ronnie's true value became apparent during family difficulties. When Diane developed ME after gallbladder surgery, a miscarriage, childbirth, and moving house, Ronnie stepped up significantly. "He would make a bottle for the baby, sit with Katie while I was pushing Lloyd around the block and make beans on toast," Rob remembers. "When he joined us, he was a lodger, then he became a friend, and suddenly became the brother I never had."
A Heartbreaking Final Chapter
Ronnie remained with the family for 45 years through children and grandchildren, faithfully helping with household chores. In 2020, he fell in his room and was taken to hospital where he suffered a stroke. Strict lockdown restrictions prevented visits except for one heartbreaking window visit where he was pushed in a wheelchair.
As ambulance doors closed, Rob shouted "I love you Ronnie" and received the same declaration in return. Ronnie deteriorated in hospital, suffered another stroke, and passed away at 75 with Rob and Diane by his bedside.
Legacy of Kindness
Three days after Ronnie's death, an elderly woman arrived with flowers, explaining Ronnie had helped her weekly with her bins after her husband died. "That was who Ronnie was," Rob reflects. "He was very kind and he loved to give – whether it was Christmas presents or acts of kindness."
A £1.6 million wellbeing center attached to Glenwood Church in Cardiff has been named The Lockwood Centre in his honor, partially funded by Ronnie's estate and opened by then-Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford.
Reflecting on their extraordinary journey, Rob says: "Since Ronnie died, we've talked a lot about him and we have said to each other that it was really hard, but that we would do it all again. The kids were great, they never said: 'Why are we the weird family with the homeless guy?' Ronnie Lockwood was a gift to us all."
