A Divine Reunion after Twin Sisters Separated for 78 Years Finally Find Each Other
The sisters discovered they share a love for reading, swimming, dancing; each was raised as only children and each married a man named Jim. Both are also deeply religious. "When we pray," said twin sister Elizabeth, "we expect an answer sooner than 78 years. But sometimes you have to wait."
(Albany, OR)—The beginning of life for twin sisters Elizabeth Hamel of Albany, Oregon, and Ann Hunt of Aldershot, England, may not be all that rare—but the last chapter in their lives has proven to be extraordinary. (Photo via Albany Democrat-Herald)
It started on Feb. 28, 1936, when Alice Patience Lamb, a 33-year-old unmarried domestic worker, gave birth to twin girls in Aldershot, England, who were fathered by a soldier in the British Army. Elizabeth was born 20 minutes before her sibling, but was diagnosed with health issues that would make adoption difficult. Because Alice felt she could barely support one child as a single parent, let alone two, she gave Ann up for adoption to a local couple in Aldershot and kept Elizabeth.
According to a report in the Albany Democrat Herald, Ann Hunt didn't discover she'd been adopted until she was 14. The girls' mother, however, later married a man named George Burton. While raising Elizabeth, she let her daughter know she had a twin sister somewhere.
Meanwhile, Hunt lived a simple but happy life nearby. "My mum said I was 'chosen,'" said Hunt. "She said she chose me and my birth mother chose to give me a loving home. I have had a good life. We didn't have a lot of material things, but I had what I needed and was loved and cared for. (Photo via Albany Democrat-Herald)
Later, Hunt married and began a family in Aldershot. Hamel eventually married a US Navy man who was assigned a recruiting position at Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon. The couple moved to nearby Albany in 1965.
Then, in 2001, Hunt's daughter, Samantha Stacey, began helping her mother try to locate the missing twin sister. It wasn't until last year, 13 years later, that the discovery was finally made.
Stacey said the research wasn't easy, "but I would encourage anyone who thinks they have someone out there to do the research and not give up. It is a very moving experience [although] we're like intimate strangers. Although we have just met, we have a connection."
Since discovering each other, Hamel and Hunt have been interviewed by the BBC and become part of an international research study at the Twins Studies Center at California State University in Fullerton.
For Elizabeth and Ann, old age has surely proven to be exciting, joyous, and anything but boring.
