It was a bitter-sweet moment for Jason Lawrence yesterday as a Wollongong coroner found that on the balance of probabilities his missing mother was dead.

Almost 15 years have passed since his mother Pauline Sowry disappeared without trace from Warrawong.

Fighting back tears, the retail manager said Coroner Ian Guy's findings represented the final chapter in years of sadness and half expectation that she may still be alive.

He said for a long time he thought his mum would turn up and highlighted her case in the media as part of Missing Persons Week.

"I would almost die every time I got a call from the police," Mr Lawrence said.

But as the years went by he began to lose hope.

"I've known in my heart for some time she's now in a better place, but it's just the unknown and the waiting for that unexpected phone call from her that really hurt," he said.

"I will now go home and tell my sons Jye (12) and Ayden (9), who my mother has never seen, about today's outcome and then move on and get on with our lives," he said.

Mrs Sowry's father Bill, who was also in court, said the family had gone through a roller-coaster ride of emotion since his daughter's disappearance in 1993.

"Nothing will change the circumstances, but we can now have some closure," Mr Sowry said.

After listening to police evidence of a widespread search and ongoing efforts by the Missing Persons Unit to locate her, Coroner Guy said he believed Pauline Sowry was dead.

He found that she met her death sometime after she was last seen in 1993.

"As to the precise date, place, manner and cause of her death I am unable to be more precise," Mr Guy said.