ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ/Gray News) – Two long-lost sisters have finally met for the first time after being separated by hundreds of miles their whole lives.
Ahondryea Brooks was born in 1957 in Star City. Debbie Knox is from Connecticut, born nearly a decade later in 1966.
The two did not have a clue about each other until they finally met at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport.
They found out they were sisters through Ancestry.com.
“I always looked at my baby pictures and would always say to my mom that I looked like a Black baby,” Knox said. “She was like, ‘No, you don’t.’ But I did.”
It was their children who nudged them to take the test. Six weeks later, the results arrived, and with them came decades of questions and confusion.
The sisters connected for the first time via phone, creating a cross-country bond before deciding to meet more than four years later.
“I texted her and I told her I can’t answer everything, but I’ll fill in some of the blanks for her,” Brooks said. “She said I’ll take it.”
As they talked, they learned their connection was in sharing the same father.
Knox said she did not know her father at all. Brooks said he wished her a happy 18th birthday, but had not heard from him since then.
Both women lived with different relationships to their father, but said there were signs of their connection.
“Everyone who saw it with the two of us together, thought we favored each other,” Brooks said. “She looks a lot like my grandmother.”
For Brooks, she said she always knew of her diverse roots.
“We have all different kinds of people in our family, you know,” Brooks said. “So, it wasn’t as big a shock as it was for her.”
Despite the surprise and still unanswered questions, they see this as a gift and shared history that will forever be a part of their story.
“We like the different cultures,” Brooks said. “We love diversity. So, it was just one more person to open the doors for and say come on in.”
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