Two Women Who “Look Similar” Have Much, Much More In Common
Tracy’s aunt, Janice, struggled in her past. Originally, Janice lived in Washington State. In the 1960s, she moved with her husband, Dean Holly, to Virginia Beach. The pair had two daughters who are Tracy’s cousins. However, while Janice lived on the West Coast, she gave birth to two twin girls.
As she hadn’t been married yet. Janice didn’t tell anyone about the twin babies. She couldn’t provide for the babies, so she put them up for adoption. Janice Holly had died about a year before Tracy and Rochelle met. Before she passed away, Janice passed on the secret to one family member, her sister and Tracy’s mom, sue.
I figured if I died, someone had to know about this, sue later said. Jenny was determined to do the best thing for the twins, and we always wondered about them. Sue eventually decided to share her secret with one person. This was her daughter, Tracy Hall. To summarize, here’s what Rochelle learned during her meeting with Tracy.
She and Tracy Hall were cousins. Tracy’s aunt, Janice Holly, was her biological mother, and Rochelle had two more biological sisters that she’s never met. At age 53, Rochelle Dyer finally understood how many siblings she had. But how could she possibly reach out to her two biological half sisters? As Tracy revealed, her sisters lived much closer than Rochelle anticipated.
Remember Shannon Nichol, whom Rochelle met back in 2009? One decade after they met, Tracy informed Rochelle that the two were related. Not only did they meet earlier and share the same friends, but the two both lived in the same town. And better yet, Shannon Nicholl has an older sister who also lives in Virginia Beach named Lisa Holly Van. The two grew up on the East Coast, never knowing that they shared twin sisters 3000 miles away.
With Tracy’s help, Rochelle connected to Shannon and Lisa on social media. None of the women could believe how close they live together. If Rochelle had moved anywhere else other than Virginia Beach, this meet up never would have happened. The three women planned to see each other at a local Virginia Beach restaurant, but they were still missing the fourth sister due to chance. Rochelle couldn’t tell her twin sister Cristel, about the reunion immediately.
While all of this was happening, Cristelle was on vacation in Australia for New Year’s Eve. While there, she had to visit the emergency room for appendicitis. Crystal underwent emergency surgery, and when she recovered, she cut her trip short. The twin came home to a flurry of messages that shattered everything she thought about her life. She no longer had one sister in Virginia.
She had three. As Crystal recovered, the three sisters in Virginia Beach scheduled to meet. They all gathered at a local restaurant on February 9, 2019, wondering how to act around a sibling. They’ve spent their entire lives not knowing. Members of their families tagged along to witness the occasion.
The first reunion went astonishingly well. When we got together, it was like we’d been together forever, Lisa later said. Shannon called their discovery the biggest gift you can imagine. One week after the first reunion, Crystal flew out to Virginia to meet her half sisters. Me and Rochelle had a wonderful childhood and upbringing, she said.
But we always wondered what our sisters would be like now. They finally knew these sisters families were shocked at how similar they were. Shannon’s children covered their mouths when the women laughed because they couldn’t believe how similar they sounded. I mean, we were finishing each other’s sentences, Shannon said. I feel like I was a year and a half too late, Rochelle told Good Morning America.
Because that’s when our birth mom passed away. The twins had a bittersweet moment of realizing that they would never get to meet their biological mother, but they heard about her from other family members. Aunt sue revealed that their mum, Janice, wished the best for the twins. She ensured that they stayed together and grew up in a Catholic environment. I think Jenny would have been happy about this, sue said on Good Morning America.