Long-Lost Sisters Finally Meet 75 Years After They Were Adopted During World War II
The sisters were raised countries apart. They finally found each other, all thanks to a joke.
TikTok Two sisters who were separated during the "Baby Scoop Era" after World War II have finally found their way back to each other.
An increase in premarital pregnancies and single mothers after the end of the war ignited what became knows as the "Baby Scoop Era" when these mothers faced immense pressure to give up their kids for adoption.
More often than not, single mothers gave up their children forcibly due to pressure from maternity homes to be raised in two-parent households. It’s difficult to quantify the number of people who still don’t know the truth about their family roots. But fortunately, people are still finding their long-lost family members even today.
A pair of sisters finally reunited after 75 years following their adoption during World War II.
According to Metro, Sheila Anne Fry and Annie Ijpelaar are both 75-year-olds that share the same father. U.K. parents Clifford and Mary Willmott adopted Sheila in 1946 while Annie grew up in the Netherlands.
The sisters spent their entire lives apart, with Annie not even knowing that the man who raised her was not her biological father until later in life.
Sheila, on the other hand, grew up knowing she was adopted but never meeting her birth parents. She was told that her father was a Canadian soldier who fought against the Nazis in Europe before returning home.
“I was special because mummy and daddy picked me,” Sheila said of her upbringing. When she did decide to search for her biological parents, her efforts were fruitless for eight years.
Meanwhile, upon learning about her roots after overhearing a conversation between her relatives, Annie was in the Netherlands rifling through family documents. Interestingly, her father was also a Canadian soldier who fought against the Nazis in Europe, and she learned that he took part in the liberation of the Netherlands.
The sisters learned of each other when Annie's son joined an online DNA database.
According to Good News Network, Annie’s 50-year-old son, Marc, initially only took a DNA test as part of a joke between him and his cousins but it ended up leading to a breakthrough in his mother's quest to find her family as he unearthed a half-sister his mother didn't know she had.
He sent a message to Sheila’s daughter-in-law Karen. Another DNA test confirmed the two are half-siblings born just a few months apart. Only then Marc announced to Annie that she has a sister. In May 2022, he arranged their first video call to each other.
“They had an amazing conversation,” Marc said. “They look the same, they have the same hobbies. It was amazing.”
“It was like looking in the mirror and talking to myself,” Sheila said.
Marc and Karen’s work made the pair connect more dots than they thought possible regarding their father.
“I never thought of looking on my dad’s side,” Sheila said. “What we presume happened is as the forces were closing down, he had been in Holland, and they had Annie. Then he was sent to Bristol and met my mum. We think he maybe knew about Annie but didn’t know about me. I didn’t know anything about it until my daughter-in-law told me.”
Finally, the pair of sisters met in person.
Just two months after their first video call, Sheila went to the Netherlands for their first face-to-face.
“We immediately connected…and although the language was a problem it felt very natural to see and talk to my sister after all these years,” Sheila said. “It can be difficult to keep in touch as we are not very good with computers and phones.”
Sheila shared the interests they discovered in common and made a joke, comparing their skills. “We both love to crochet, and we both knit and do crafts,” Sheila said. “I must say, Annie is a lot better than me.”
Annie felt that the meeting was “very special” and wasn’t going to let the language barrier stop their relationship. “My English is not good, but I am trying to learn. I wish she lived closer,” Annie said.
Sheila currently hopes that Annie will take a trip to visit her at her home in the U.K.
Ethan Cotler is a writer living in Boston. He writes on entertainment and news.