ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 27, 1996 TAG: 9602270116
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Above
TWO SISTERS, born a year apart and adopted at birth by separate families, were united Monday. They decided they were an odd couple.
Gloria Evers was an emotional mess, a jumble of joy, fear, anticipation.
Pacing in front of Gate 5A at the Roanoke Regional Airport terminal Monday, she assured friends that she was all right, that her legs were not about to buckle.
"I'm not sad," she said, tears trickling down her cheeks.
They laughed and folded her in their arms. They understood, as much as they could understand.
"There's no way we can really understand your emotions without walking in your shoes," friend Marshall Harris said, pausing between shots with a video camera.
Evers, 56, was waiting to meet her sister, Judy Patterson, for the first time. Evers had known for several years that she had a sister. But she didn't learn until last month who her sister was.
USAir Flight 3127 touched down on schedule. It rolled toward the gate and eased to a stop. Evers stood at a window, her eyes fixed on the plane's door.
One passenger stepped through, then two, three, four, and more. Finally, Patterson emerged, the wind whipping her red hair.
"There she is!'' Evers said. She grabbed the red felt hat decorated with feathers that she had told Patterson she would be wearing. She waved it wildly. Feathers flew all around her.
Patterson looked up at the window from outside. She spotted Evers. Her steps quickened.
Evers walked the few feet to where the ramp meets the gate entrance. When Patterson came through, the sisters grabbed one another and embraced. Then they stepped back and stared, Evers in her casual white sweat shirt and blue jeans, Patterson in chic black.
"I'm elated," Patterson said. "I can't even think."
"Jesus Christ, I've aged 100 years," Evers said.
Patterson, 55, had spent years searching for information about her birth parents. In 1984, she discovered she was a diabetes carrier. Two of her five children had the disease. She wanted to know her family medical history.
Patterson had little information to go on. She knew she had been born in Roanoke and adopted by a woman named Virginia Brooks Parker. She had a name she only suspected was that of her birth mother. She didn't know the name of her birth father.
Patterson tried without success to find family through the Virginia Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics and national organizations that track down missing people.
Last month, she called The Roanoke Times. After a story of her search was published, readers passed on information that helped Patterson fill the gaps in her life. In the process, she found a sister - Evers.
Evers had known for several years that she had a sister but never tried to find her. Nor did she search for her birth parents, though she knew of them.
Her parents were married, but not to each other. Their 15-year affair produced two children - girls born a year apart. Their birth mother gave both of them up for adoption - Evers in 1939 to a well-to-do Waynesboro businessman and his wife, Patterson in 1940 to Parker, who, according to family lore, moved frequently to stay steps ahead of the law.
The birth parents and adoptive parents now are deceased.
The sisters' lives are as different as their upbringings. Evers lives in Lyndhurst, near Waynesboro, in a home where her choice of heat source is a wood stove. Patterson lives in Pico Rivera, Calif., where she works as a hostess in a restaurant frequented by such celebrities as Sylvester Stallone.
"We're the 'Odd Couple,''' Patterson said.
Their phone bills since mid-January have been astronomical, Evers said. They have talked nearly every day, sometimes twice a day. Evers knew of Patterson's "flaming" red hair and long manicured nails. Patterson knew of Evers' plucky personality - and her wood stove.
"We've talked about everything, right down to our bra sizes," Evers said.
Patterson had been scheduled to fly in Sunday but missed her connecting flight in Baltimore because of bad weather in California. She had planned to spend a quick 45-minute layover with a half sister on her father's side who lives in the Baltimore area and whom Evers located several months ago.
Patterson wound up spending the night with the half sister and her family. Consequently, the union with Evers was delayed a day - more like an eternity, the sisters said.
"This was a one-in-a-million chance meeting," Evers said. "I think this was meant to be."
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/Staff. Gloria Evers (left) and Judyby CNBPatterson meet for the first time ever at Roanoke Regional Airport.
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