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Adopted at birth 70 years ago, twins found each other and became fast friends

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Karen Andrews (left) with Barb Beam in Rutherfordton recently. (Jean Gordon photo)

On a crisp fall day, October 13, 1955, a baby girl named Molly at birth was adopted by Charles and Margie Andrews of Rutherfordton when her name was changed to Karen. She was born January 31, 1955, to a 20-year-old single mother. Just eighteen days later, on October 31, 1955 another baby girl named Polly at birth, born January 31, 1955, to that same 20-year-old single mother was adopted by Gaither and Mary Lou Beam of Louisburg, NC, when her name was changed to Barbara. Molly/Karen and Polly/Barbara were fraternal twins, spending their first eight months together in a children's home outside Greensboro. Because of the attending pediatrician's recommendation, they were separated and adopted by different families, who didn't know their daughters were twins. Seven decades later those two girls were able to find each other thanks to Ancestry.

Their biological mother, Frances Horner, of Alamance County choose not to tell anyone about her pregnancy except her brother and mother and she lived in a maternity home from December 1954 until their birth January 31, 1955. According to birth records from the Department of Social Services in Burlington, the mother didn't see the babies after their delivery. When she entered the hospital to give birth, she did not know she was carrying twins. The twins' biological father, Robert Merriman, never knew anything about the twins as he was serving in the military at the time, but did find out when they were adults and chose not to look for them to avoid the possibility of disrupting their families.

Karen and Barb's parents both shared they were adopted but Barb's parents were not as open with her about other aspects of the adoption.

"They just didn't want to talk about it," Barb said. They never suggested Barb try to find her biological parents.

Karen's parents were open with her about the adoption to the point they told Karen if she ever wanted to find her biological parents, they would help her, but not until February 2025 did Karen begin to research her ancestry.

Frances Horner Curtis, their biological mother, died at 81 in 2015 after suffering a stroke. Their biological father, Bob Merriman, died in 1997 of Agent Orange at 61 after a career in the Army.

Barb lives in Monroe, a little more than two hours away from Karen, who now lives in McDowell County. It was Barb's daughter Jennifer who started the search for her mother's biological parents, starting with the DNA test.

"Jennifer is the one that had really started the search," Barb said. Through the search Jennifer learned about Barb's half-sisters and tried to find out more about her family. Jennifer was able to get the non-identifying medical and family history from the Department of Social Services in Burlington. From that letter Barb received in July 2016, she found out about her biological parents and that she had a twin sister and two half-sisters from their dad's side; Shanna and Sue who live in Washington State. Barb and the half-sisters have not met in person but started talking in 2020. Barb pulled out of Ancestry in 2020 thinking she would never find her sister.

Fast forward to 2025, Karen decided to check into Ancestry to find out if she was Scottish. She had no idea where visiting Ancestry would lead. On February 22, 2025 Karen learned from Ancestry that she had a "full sibling", and yes, she is Scottish as well.

"I received my results from Ancestry and saw that someone listed as BB was a full sibling," Karen began. "I texted BB and heard nothing," said Karen. Barb was no longer on Ancestry, Karen said.

"I saw where Shanna was listed as a 'close relative", but I didn't reach out to her," Karen said. On the morning of March 4 Karen received a "text" from Shanna asking, "Did I know how we might be related?" Karen said. "I texted back that I had no idea," Karen said.

About 90 minutes later, Karen received another text from Shanna who told her she was one of Karen's half-sisters, and Sue is another half-sister, and that BB was her twin sister, all related through their dad.

Karen Andrews is a woman of many words, she readily admits. She held several public jobs that required a lot of talking, including being the Town Manager for Rutherfordton. As a political science major from Gardner-Webb University, she would later spend time in Washington, DC working on Capitol Hill. She is always ready to strike up a conversation. But March 4, 2025, when Karen was told she had a twin sister, "I was speechless," Karen said recently in Rutherfordton sitting with her sister Barb, as they told their story.

"Shanna had talked to Barb during those 90 minutes telling Barb they had found me," Karen continued. At that time, Karen was given Barb's phone number from Shanna. Barb asked that Karen text first. She did and the rest is history. They talked on the telephone for a long time on March 4. Three days later on March 7 Karen, Dan (Karen's husband), Barb and Jennifer met at a restaurant where they talked 4 ½ hours.

The sisters have since met up several times, including a couple weeks ago in Rutherfordton where Barb spent the weekend with Karen and Dan in McDowell County. They talk or text every night. They have the same smile and Karen's husband Dan says they have an identical laugh. While at the restaurant, he said he could close his eyes and didn't know who was laughing.

Although there are many similarities between Karen and Barb, there are also differences. Barb says Karen was "the classy one", the renaissance woman and loved all things musical and crafty, and Barb was the athlete playing several high school sports, including golf, swimming, and basketball. When they met at the restaurant and ordered beverages, Karen ordered "water no ice." Then twin sister, Barb, "water no ice." Both are active in their churches and always have been. They enjoy baking and cooking. Barb said she traveled past the children's home "thousands of times" over the years and wondered about her beginning. Karen said while a student at Gardner-Webb she was in the touring choir and traveled to the children's home to give a concert. "I cried" Karen said, thinking of the place she lived for a while. Karen's daddy told her she cried a lot at night when they first brought her home to Rutherfordton. Karen now figures she was missing her sister.

"This is something you see in the movies," they agreed. The four sisters have connected with each other and Shanna summed it up nicely by saying, "we are complete now".

With their forever smiles, the twins said goodbye to each other after spending the weekend in Rutherfordton, waiting for another visit and their nightly phone calls. "We have a lot of catching up to do," they said, sharing the same smiles.

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