Long-lost sisters share a new bond!

For 67 years, Monette Marchman wondered where she came from. Her answer arrived in the form of four sisters she never knew she had!

- —Bill Holton

The five sisters are thrilled to be together (L-R): Monette, Tam, Sissy, Lena and Jana Monette welcomed them when they came to visit her home in Mississippi

Sissy Caballero Ponce was curled on the couch watching TV when her 88-year-old mom, Doris, shuffled in from her bedroom and sat beside her.

“You have to find your sister,” Doris suddenly blurted.

“It’s OK, I know where my sisters are—all three of them,” she told her mom, who had Alzheimer’s.

“No!” Doris protested. “Your other sister. The one I gave up for adoption!”

Before Sissy could respond, Doris hurried back to her room. Sissy followed, heart pounding. “What do you mean?” she said, but Doris had retreated into her fog.

“I don’t know what you're talking about,” Doris said when Sissy tried to learn more.

Later, Sissy conference called her sisters, Jana, Tam and Lena. “I found Mom’s journals from before I was born. Sure enough, she mentions giving up a baby girl.”

“We have another sister?” Lena gasped.

The five sisters are thrilled to be together (L-R): Monette, Tam, Sissy, Lena and Jana Monette welcomed them when they came to visit her home in Mississippi

“We have to find her,” Tam said. The others agreed. Sissy dug deeper into the journals. Jana, who took their mom out weekly, gently asked questions when Doris was lucid.

Slowly, the puzzle pieces began to fit together.

Searching for answers

In 1957, Doris lived in a mobile home next door to a kind couple named Jim and Carrie.