Two long lost sisters Mary Sophia McIntyre, 59 of Waldoboro and Mary Ellen Kennedy, 62 of Perth-Andover, New Brunswick Canada, were reunited in Waldoboro on July 29. They were separated as very young children when the State removed them from their home and took them away from their parents over 50 years ago.
Mary Sophia was adopted and raised by Donald and Lillian Tibbetts, and attended Waldoboro Schools. “They never told me nothing,” Mary Sophia said of her family roots. “I had an adopted brother, that’s all I knew.”
When adoption records were opened a few years ago, the State ran ads on television. McIntyre saw the ad and sent in $10 to get her birth certificate. When the birth certificate arrived in the mail, McIntyre found out she had at least two siblings, and the box in front of twins was checked.
Mary Ellen was not as lucky as her sister, and was not adopted. “I had polio at the time, but God has healed me,” she said. Mary Ellen was raised in 12 different foster homes and an orphanage in Bangor. Unlike her sister, she knew she had siblings, including a twin sister.
When she was around 10 years old her mother’s first husband Donald Davis, from Millinocket, told her she was a twin and he was their father. Her grandmother and cousin Joe Lappa both told her she was a twin. At her wedding the physician that delivered her asked which twin she was. She also was told her grandfather was the chief of the Passamaquoddy tribe.
A friend of Mary Sophia searched the Internet and found her cousin Joe Lappa from Millinocket. “I called him up and he hung up on me. I called him again a couple of days later and we talked for hours and hours. I have not met him yet,” Mary Sophia said. “He told me mom and dad passed away.” He also told her about her sisters Mary Sophia and Jane and brother Richard.
The two sisters believe brother Richard, who they have not met, lives in New Hampshire. Sister, Jane Courtland, lives in Tucson Arizona. They have not met Jane either, but both have talked to her on the telephone. Both Richard and Jane were adopted as young children. Jane was raised in Portland and Richard in the Millinocket area.
“Jane came looking for me,” Mary Ellen said.
Jane said “we look alike, sound alike. Her son and my son look just alike,” Mary Ellen added.
Mary Ellen contacted Joe, looking for Bibles for a nursing home she volunteers in and Joe told her Mary Sophia wanted to get into contact with her. Joe gave Mary Ellen the telephone number and she called Mary Sophia.
The two hit it off instantly. Tears of joy welled up in both Mary Ellen and Mary Sophia’s eyes as they recalled their first phone conversation. “When I heard her voice on the other line, it was soft and quiet just like my mother’s. I had prayed about this. I said thank you Lord. We chattered for an hour and a half to two hours. My phone bill was $130,” Mary Ellen said of their long conversations.
“It was a big surprise,” Mary Sophia said of finding a sister she never knew she had. It was emotional as well, as tears rolled down the faces of both sisters. “We talked about everything, what we liked, what we liked to do, what we did for work,” Mary Sophia said
“I knew I had a sister, they called her Sophia Marie,” Mary Ellen said of her new found sister Mary Sophia. The women’s mother Jeannette Pearl Richards’s second husband was Charles John Lappa. “The State took us out of our parents’ home. Jane remembers going to court,” Mary Ellen said.
Their biological mother died about 20 years ago. “That’s when the truth came out,” Mary Ellen said.
“Her husband (James McIntyre) pushed her to connect with me. She asked me to come down to the Lobster Festival,” Mary Ellen said of Mary Sophia
Although talkative and energetic, Mary Ellen, a widow of 12 years, said coming down from Canada alone to meet someone new, who may or may not be who they said they were was a big challenge. She had just had surgery. “I was hesitant, but I walked by faith. It was a big step for me.”
Mary Ellen decided to make the long trip by bus to Waldoboro. She was worried that Mary Sophia would not show, especially after the bus was a half hour late, but Mary Sophia was there with a smile, a tear and a hug to meet the long lost sister she never knew she had.
“I knew instantly who she was,” Mary Ellen said. “She looks similar to mom and was quiet like her. I gave her a hug and chills went up and down my spine. I couldn’t believe it was happening.”
The two have been reunited for almost a week now, and still talk nonstop about their lives and family. They both have diabetes and arthritis of the fingers and spine. They both worked in factories, and both had housekeeping jobs; Mary Sophia in homes, hotels and inns, and Mary Ellen in a hospital operating room. Neither graduated from high school.
Mary Sophia quit in ninth grade. She and a boy hitch-hiked from Rockland to Florida. They left on a Sunday and arrived on a Tuesday. They returned to Rockland and got married when Mary Sophia was 18. Mary Ellen dropped out of school at 17 and married at 20.
Mary Sophia has talked Mary Ellen into staying for the Union Fair and Mary Sophia has talked Mary Ellen into a trip to Canada for a couple of weeks, pending a passport.
Mary Ellen and Mary Sophia have the same blood type, but different birth dates. Jane has a different birth date and different blood type. “I’m happy, but I still want to know about the twin,” Mary Ellen said. They are searching for the twin sister, and any other siblings or half siblings that may be out there.
Mary Sophia McIntyre can be contacted at (207) 832-6974 or at 1263 Finntown Road, Waldoboro, 04572. Mary Ellen Kennedy can be contacted at 506-273-2470 or at 21 Parkland Drive, Perth-Andover, New Brunswick Canada, E7H3k1.
