Twins sent to separate foster homes reunite after 60 years apart

RoseMarie Henson and Rosalie Turner are very much alike.

They both have beautiful dark eyes, similar laughs, and with the way they talk, you'd think they have been finishing each other's sentences since they first learned to speak.

The pair are twins, and despite interacting like they have only spent a day apart, they're making up for lost time.

At 14 years old, the twins were sent to separate foster homes in California.

They didn't see or hear from each other for 60 years.

Turner now lives in Longview, Texas. Her daughter, Tina Henderson, said a family member completed a DNA test through Ancestry.com and was able to find more of Turner's family members.

"That gave us some connection to other siblings they hadn’t seen in a while and lots of cousins," Henderson said.

Kiara Smothers is one of Turner's granddaughters and said she completed the DNA test to learn about her lineage.

"For me, it was weird," Smothers said. "My husband and I, we just did it to find our heritage."

Smothers said she cried when the results revealed all of the people she was connected to.

"It was a God-given plan," Smothers said.

Henderson said she tried finding her mother's twin, but couldn't locate her. Henderson's cousin stepped in and continued to dig.

A message came on April 2.

"I was in a management meeting and she texted me to ask me to call her — ‘I found her sister,’" Henderson said. "I just freaked out. The world just stopped at that moment. If it had been April Fool’s Day, I wouldn’t have believed."

Turner found out her twin has been living in Springfield for the past 35 years.

Henderson told her mother to be sure to pick up the phone.

"When I picked up the phone, I said ‘Hello’ and she says ‘Hello,’ and I say, ‘She sounds like me,'" Turner said. "We talked so long we forgot how long it was."

There was a lot to say to each other, Henson said.

"I was very happy and shocked, but excited," Henson said.

Separated

Before the separation, the twins did everything together.

"We had fun when we were in school," Turner said. "We used to go in the bathroom and change our clothes and change classes. She had a favorite class and I had a favorite class, so we switched and that’s how we became A students. Mine was science. Hers was history. When it was time to go home, we’d switch our clothes back."

When Turner and Henson turned 14, they were sent to different homes.

"We were in foster homes and we got moved around. We ran away from home and from then on, we don’t know what happened to each other," Turner said. "We lost each other. We didn’t find each other."

The twins discovered that in some of the foster homes, they were right by each other.

"She would be in some of those towns too at the same time, but we couldn’t connect," Henson said. "We started laughing and said, ‘Gosh, how come we couldn’t find this out?’"

There was a hole in their hearts, the twins said.

"Girls are hard to put in foster homes in them days. I mean, we’re old," Henson said. "It was painful. It was very painful because we always did things together and we talk alike and did everything. Before I could get it out of my brain, she already had it in hers and we could get it together."

Although they were separated, there are similarities in their lives.

"We both got married young. I was 16 and she was 17 going on 18," Henson said. "She was a nurse. I was a nurse. She cleaned houses. I cleaned houses. I worked in a bar and she worked in a bar."

The twins' husbands have both passed away.

"We wish they were alive right now to see this," Turner said. "They had a big hand in it. We wish they were here."

There are some differences — Henson has gray hair and Turner's hair is darker.

"I have all the grays, but that was all from experience," Henson said.

"I have the black hair, with dye," Turner said, while laughing.

Henson said she was surprised to see that she was a little bit taller than Turner. She's also the oldest by 15 minutes, Henson said.

Henson didn't have biological children, but had step-children, and Turner had six.

"I claim seven because I have a step son and I love him," Turner said. "I told her I have enough family to make up for her."

Turner's family always asked about her twin sister.

"We were married. We were happy. But, we were never that happy because part of us was missing," Turner said.

Henson said she just wanted to be together again with her sister.

"It was just something that no one could understand the separation that we had," Henson said.

And, even though they were apart, they were still in sync in many ways.

"If she was sick or something, I would be sick," Henson said. "We knew something was happening. I’d say to my husband, ‘Oh, God, Rosalie is sick again.’ I had to go to the hospital and I said, ‘Ain’t no way I could get pregnant.’ And I had a miscarriage and she was too. I asked her if she had a miscarriage and she said yes she did."

The same thing happened to Turner.

"Sometimes, when I would get sick, I would go to doctor and doctor would say, ‘You’re perfect. Nothing wrong.’ And I’d say, ‘RoseMarie!’" Turner said.

The twins were told that the other had died. Henson lived in Joplin and the 2011 tornado destroyed her home.

"My house got destroyed completely and they said I passed away, but I didn’t," Henson said. "I was in Springfield when it happened, but my home disappeared. And they told me that she died — that she was sitting on the windowsill of a two-story building and fell out of it and died. It just ripped me apart. I cried and cried and cried. I just couldn’t handle it."

They kept hoping to find each other some day, and then they did.

Reunited

The twins reunited in person early April 17 at Henson's home in Springfield. Turner's daughters, Henderson and Tammy Langford, drove the trio all night from Texas.

It was about 4 a.m. April 17 and Turner said her legs were shaking when she got out of the car.

"We got each other and hugged in the dark. We kinda broke down, but we’re OK," Turner said. "We’ve been having fun ever since. We were so far apart, and all these years, we were doing the same things. That’s what amazes me so much."

Turner's daughters took the twins shopping and they got matching outfits before an interview with the Springfield News-Leader on April 18. When they went to dinner, they ate the same thing, Turner said.

"They picked up where they left off," Langford said.

Never losing hope

"Don’t give up because there’s always a rainbow on the other side. We got our rainbow."

With no idea where the other ended up, the twins never lost hope that they would one day find each other.

"Before we separated, we promised each other that we would always say, ‘Goodnight Rosalie’ or ‘Goodnight Rose,’ or ‘Good morning Rosalie,'" Henson said. "Every time it was our birthdays, (my husband) and I would go into a flower shop and pick up a helium balloon and it would have 'Happy Birthday' and I had one put on 'Rosalie' and 'RoseMarie' and I’d put it up in the sky and say, ‘Thank you, God. Here you go.’"

Henson said she never gave up and would pray every day to see her twin before she died. Turner said she prayed for the same thing.

"We used to say before we turned 75, ‘Lord, let us see each other,'" Turner said. "We’re going to be 74 in June. The Lord blessed us."

Henson said she hopes other people won't lose hope when they're trying to find lost siblings.

"Don’t give up," Henson said. "No matter how old they are or young, don’t give up. One way or the other. Through the grace of God, it’ll work."

Turner agreed.

"Even if you’re adopted and you’re trying to find who you are, don’t give up," Turner said. "It took us 60 years. When the time comes, it’s gonna come. Don’t give up because there’s always a rainbow on the other side. We got our rainbow."

As their birthday approaches in June, Henderson is hosting a celebration for her mother and twin sister at her home in Texas.

"The whole family is going to be there," Henson said, with a smile.

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