5 Nebraska sisters reunited for the first time after 6 decades of separation
DNA helps 5 sisters reunited for the first time after 6 decades of separation
Five sisters reunited for the first time last weekend in Nebraska after three of them were adopted about six decades ago.
The five sisters, aged 57 to 66 were biological daughters of the same mother. They were all born in Nebraska and were separated when three of the girls were sent to a foster home before being adopted by different families in different states in mid-1950s. A fourth daughter was later adopted as well.
The two youngest sisters were born after the three older sisters had already left home.
The oldest sister, Vicky Love, 66, was adopted when she was four years old, and lived more than 100 miles away from her biological mother.
The youngest sister, Nena Christina, 57, was the only one of the five daughters who remained with her biological mother.
In 1980, Love launched a search for the two sisters whom she last saw in the foster home where the three of them were placed before their eventual adoptions.
“Back in 1980, we did not have home computers then,” Love told ABC News.
“I just had to make a lot of phone calls and write a lot of letters,” she said of her months-long mission.
Love contacted her biological mother and learned that she had four sisters, not two.
“I knew that I had two sisters at that time," Love told ABC News. "I did not realized that I had two more!"
Love tracked down sisters Ruth Ellen Christensen and Kala William and the trio reunited in Arizona in 1981.
The advancement of DNA technology helped them reconnect - just last fall - with sister Jan Siperly.
The five sisters reunited last weekend in Nebraska. They found out that they all have things in common.
“We all seem artistic,” Christina told ABC News. She said they all like “craft, a lot of craft mainly.”
Christina said they are all getting to know more and more about each other.
“I am really excited about this and waiting to see what our future bring,” Christina told ABC News.
The five sisters have set up a chat group to keep in touch in the future. They will meet again in 2020.
“I was kind of surprised," Williams said. "Although I knew that I have sister, but not five of them. I knew I had two.”