Maplewood, MN-- Two sisters, ages 76 and 83, met for the first time on Sunday - decades after they were given up for adoption.
Delores Viola of Maplewood learned of her sister Betty Lou's existence while searching on the website ancestry.com.
"As I'm growing older, I thought I really would like to know who I am," she said.
Viola was in her 50s when she learned she was adopted at the age of 13 months by the family who raised her.
Viola's curiously led her to Betty Lou Overholser who lives in Michigan and traveled to Minnesota with her three daughters this past weekend to meet the sister she didn't know she had.
The sisters held each other as they met for the first time on Viola's doorstep. "What a sweet surprise you are," proclaimed Overholser.
"And you too," responded Viola, who then hugged each of her three nieces as well, receiving greetings of "welcome to the family."
Viola learned that her mother gave her up for adoption before dying from childbirth complications at the age of 31 - after which Betty Lou and four other siblings were given up for adoption too.
"I always wanted a sister," said Overholser. "It's piece a missing that will give us p-e-a-c-e."
What Viola and Overholser always pictured, they finally have.
"Now I'm a whole person," said Viola.
KARE 11