STEUBENVILLE - A woman met her five siblings for the first time after placing a newspaper classified ad with her mother's maiden name, and she still hopes to find her twin brother.
It was just like I was standing back and watching a movie of someone else's life
Vickie Koepp, 50, said of her tearful reunion.
Koepp, adopted as an infant, grew up without any contact with her blood relatives. She was raised along the West Virginia line in the eastern Ohio town of Brilliant, and she now lives near Cleveland.
She began a serious effort to find her relatives about a year and a half ago because she thought it might shed light on her medical problems.
I have been fighting complications from diabetes for about 31 years and I decided to search my background to find any information about my medical history said Koepp, who suffered a heart attack at age 43.
Locating state records about her biological mother slowed her search.
It took a good year and lots of bureaucratic red tape to get my mother's maiden name and a copy of my original birth certificate
she said.
She finally received the document in August. The certificate, which did not list her father's name, offered a huge surprise: Koepp had a twin brother and several other siblings.
On Dec. 9, Koepp used her mother's name to run an ad in the Steubenville Herald-Star. The notice read, in part: Seeking Betty Mae Morrow of 509 N. Fifth St.
Ohio
or any family.
That evening, a distant relative of Koepp's saw the ad and called her adoptive parents. A few hours later, a phone conversation was arranged between Koepp and her biological sister, Patty Gaddis.
We cried for about an hour
Koepp said. I'm thinking this is unbelievable. I was not prepared for this to happen so soon.
Gaddis told Koepp that their mother had kept the birth of the twins a secret from the other nine siblings until around the time of her death, when an uncle finally told them about Koepp and her twin brother.
Gaddis told Koepp that the family had wanted to search for the twins, but had no information to go on.
My mother went to her grave not telling anybody about us twins
Koepp said.
The whereabouts of the twin brother remain a mystery.
A reunion of Koepp and her surviving two sisters and three brothers was arranged Dec. 27 at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville. There she was introduced to Gaddis, Kathy Kackley, Jim Cramer, Tim Cramer and John Cramer, who live near Columbus.
It was just awesome. We all cried
Koepp said.
The family told her she looked a lot like her mother.
They all said I resembled her so much
especially as she got older
Koepp said.
It was a wonderful day
