Mother reunites with daughter after 69 years apart: 'It's a Christmas miracle'
A woman who was falsely told that her baby had died in childbirth 69 years ago, met her daughter for the first time.
On Monday, Genevieve Purinton, 88, and her daughter, Connie Moultroup, hugged for the first time. They met in a Tampa, Fla., nursing home after connecting through a $59 DNA kit from Ancestry.com that Moultroup received last Christmas, reported Fox 13.
“I discovered I had a first cousin whose mother was named Genevieve Purinton — when we talked on the phone she said, ‘That’s my aunt’s name and she’s still alive,'” Moultroup tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
When Purinton gave birth to her daughter at age 18 in an Indiana hospital, she was told a life-altering lie. “I was a young, unwed mom, and they said my baby died during birth,” Purinton tells Yahoo Lifestyle. Purinton wasn’t provided a death certificate and she never had more children.
Moutroup was adopted by a family in Santa Barbara, Calif., and growing up, her favorite bedtime story was that of her adoption. “My parents would tell me this fabulous story of walking up and down the hospital halls looking for me,” she says.
At age 4, Moultroup’s mother died and her father quickly remarried. After he died during Moultroup’s teen years, she was raised by her stepmother, with whom Moultroup had a difficult relationship. “I dreamt of meeting my real mom — a beautiful woman who swooped in and rescued me,” she says.
Last Christmas, Moultroup’s daughter, Bonnie Chase, bought her a DNA kit. “I never met my own biological father, and growing up, it was just me and my mom,” Chase tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I remember mom trying to find her birth mother, and it was hard to see her go through that.”
On Sept. 8, Moultroup received a phone call from Purinton. “She said, ‘Where were you born? What year? I think I might be your mother.” The women talked on the phone for 30 minutes and planned to reunite at Purinton’s assisted living home.
Over the next few months, they had bi-weekly phone chats and on Monday, everything made sense. “She couldn’t deny me if she wanted to — we look exactly alike,” jokes Moultroup. “We have the same facial features, bad knees, and we’ve both had heart attacks and strokes.”
“My mom had always wanted to be a nurse, but she couldn’t afford school so she became a cook,” adds Moultroup. “I was a nurse for 34 years and my passion is cooking.”
Moultroup is grateful, overwhelmed and excited by her second chance. “It’s a Christmas miracle,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “I don’t think Santa can outdo this one.”
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