Woman Reunites with Long, Lost Sister After 73 Years
Sylvia Pickens, South Plains resident, spends her time explaining the history of century old buildings to visitors of the National Ranching Heritage Center. Little did her visitors know that she has been trying to solve her own family mystery –the whereabouts of her long lost sister.
Pickens, upon the death of her father in 1977, approached her other sister Irene Morton and asked if they should try to contact their long lost sister, Bennette. Morton’s reaction was one of surprise. “Who?” she asked.
“Bennette. Daddy’s daughter,” Pickens replied. Morton was unaware of the existence of another sister at the time.
Pickens recalls the difficulty with bringing the matter up to her father when he as alive. She states, “I did take care of my dad for about seven years in my home before he passed away from Parkinson’s. But then again, I had four children and a husband and an invalid father — it didn’t lead to a lot of conversation.”
She refers to her parents as conservative, unlike the present day where kids know a lot more about their parents’ dealings.
The last encounter Pickens had with her sister was in Atlantic City in 1938 when she was 4 and Bennette was 11. Pickens father had remarried and he didn’t share his past life with Pickens, so the two sisters only met the one time. The two have not seen each other since.
Once her father passed, Pickens began searching for her sister, but to no avail. “I had tried and tried to find her, not knowing if she had been adopted after my father and her mother divorced, and never could succeed in doing it,” she said.
Pickens’ nephew decided to try the internet to search for Bennette, and lo and behold, he found her within 20 minutes. She was living in Media, Penn. and is referred to as Bennie Cope.
Pickens called Bennie and the first thing she said was, “Bennie, this is Sylvia. How are you, big Sis?”
Bennie replied, “Golly, nobody has ever called me that before.”
The three sisters decided to meet at the Presbyterian church where their father married his first wife. Bennie looked at Pickens in amazement and said, “Oh my gosh, you’re here.”
Unfortunately, the three arrived late to the service and were unable to talk at that time. “We didn’t even get a chance to really talk to each other because church had just started — they were singing the first hymn,” Morton said. “And we all went in and got in our pew and sat down.”
After church they sat down for a meal and really bonded and chatted about their lives. Though Pickens only met Bennie once in 1938, she feels like they had known each other forever. “We just seemed to click,” she said. “We had the same kind of likes, and that is rather unusual when you haven’t grown up together.”
The two bonded and discussed their father. Bennie recalled being tucked at night with her father’s Pennsylvania Military College blanket, the school where he graduated in 1924. Pickens instantly retorted, “I’ve got a PMC blanket, too.” Morton, the youngest of the three sisters, was also feeling close bonds with Bennie.
Bennie had a daughter, Ann, who was born in 1953 with only one arm, a stub for the second arm and two small legs. When doctors told Bennie to put her in a special home, the mother said, “No, she’s my child, she’s delightful.”
Morton was touched by Bennie’s heroic story. “I am 71, and I’ve been a lot of places and been able to do a lot of things in my life, but it was one experience that touched my life like none other,” she said. “It is a very rare occurrence. They are such beautiful people, very humble, but just absolutely … looking at Bennie and seeing how she has motivated and been there for Ann all these years … it was just so remarkable to me.”
Morton was taken aback by all of Ann’s accomplishments while living disabled. Bennie took care of her daughter who grew up to obtain a degree from Penn State University in public relations. Ann works as the CEO of an office for disabled people and labors to get grants to help the disabled land jobs, find housing and live normal lives. “She’s absolutely amazing, and I don’t think she could have done it without Bennie and her husband’s help,” Morton said. “She works on a computer with one hand. She is extremely independent.”
As the three sisters continued to discuss their lives, they noticed some similarities. Pickens liked journalism and English growing up and works as a volunteer at the Ranching Heritage Center. Bennie was an English major at Washington University and volunteered at the Pennsylvania Colonial Plantation. And the two shared wedding pictures that looked identical
The three sisters have worked their entire lives and continue to stay active. Bennie, 84 years old, works 48 hours a week at her daughter’s gift shop, drives herself and parks three blocks away so she can walk the remaining distance. “She just keeps on going,” Pickens said. “And I can see that similarity in my sister and myself.”
The sisters exchanged gifts and Pickens took three stones from one of their father’s shirts and made three necklaces to wear around their necks. The sisters vow to keep in touch by phone and hope to meet in person again.
Pickens was so happy to be reunited again with her sister. “It was something definitely that I wanted to accomplish — I wanted to meet her,” she said. “The fact that we fit in so well, the fact that we just blended beautifully … we were family.”
“And in more than just name.”