Talk After 65-Year Gap

Happy Reunion of Two Sisters Keeps Them Reminiscing

Mrs. Mary Meyers of Maple Valley, Wash., Visits Mrs. Effie Snavely Here After Separation Since Girlhood


There were many happy holiday seasons in the past, but this is still one of the best ever for two sisters spending it together in Kansas City, Kansas, after a separation of almost sixty-five years.

'That's quite a spell, they agreed today.

Staying at the home of Mrs. T.R. Patton, 1501 Garfield avenue, this week is Mrs. Mary Bagley Meyers of Maple Valley, Wash. Mrs. Effie Snavely, a half-sister of Mrs. Myers, lives with Mrs. Patton, her daughter.

Arranged by a Daughter

Mrs. Patton, thrilled at serving as hostess for the reunion, explained that it had been arranged with Mrs. Jane Hildebrand of Pasadena, Calif., another daughter of Mrs. Snavely, as a special holiday treat for their mother and Aunt Mary.

And I can't think of anything we'd either one have enjoyed so much, Mrs. Meyers remarked.

Attempting to make up the more than sixty-four years missing from their mutual lives, the two sisters have spent virtually the entire time together since Mrs. Meyers arrived Tuesday in Kansas City, Kansas, reviewing their early experiences together and discussing their families.

Between the two, they have a total of fifteen children, forty-four grandchildren, and twenty-five great-grandchildren.

Showing one another photographs of their progeny and describing the achievements of each has consumed much of Mrs. Meyers's visit.

Hope to Fill In on All

By the time of her scheduled departure Monday, both Mrs. Meyers and Mrs. Snavely will be up to date, they believe.

Now 86 years old, Mrs. Snavely isn't able to write as frequently or fully as in the past. Because of declining vigor, her letters have necessarily become less lengthy and less often.

'But she still writes in that same beautiful hand,' the younger sister - Mrs. Meyers is 72 years old - pointed out.

A former schoolteacher, Mrs. Snavely now is trying to learn to type by touch so she can continue to correspond with the others despite her failing eyesight.

An occasional letter has been the only contact between the two sisters since Mrs. Snavely left the family home, then in Nebraska, where she taught in Butler and Saunders counties before marriage.

Mrs. Snavely and her husband first went to Tonganoxie and she has lived in Northeast Kansas ever since. The Snavelys were living in Topeka when he died, in 1934, and she has lived in Greater Kansas City the last fifteen years.

Others In The Family

Born in Wahoo, Neb., Mrs. Meyers was sent to live with a family friend in Rescue Neb., following the death of her mother.

The father's first wife also had died, leaving Mrs. Snavely, three sisters and two brothers. There were three more children - Mrs. Meyers and two sisters - left by the second wife's death.

Mrs. Meyers's foster mother, with whom she went to live at the age of about 7 years, was a Methodist evangelist. Tagging along on the sawdust trail, behind her guardian, the little girl volunteered to help in various evangelistic endeavors and traveled the 70-mile circuit with her foster mother until in her 'teens.

At the age of 14, Mrs. Meyers, went to visit her father, who had moved back to Canada, where Mrs. Snavely was born. Staying in Canada, Mrs. Meyers was married the following year. She and her husband settled in Alberta to rear of five children.

A Widow First at 23.

Five more children were added to Mrs. Meyers's family during her marriage to a Saskatchewan farmer, following the death of her first husband when she was 23. She was 25 at the time of her second marriage. Her second husband died twenty years later. After twelve years, she married Meyers.

Mrs. Meyers and Mrs. Snavely both have forty grandchildren and great- grandchildren.

In addition to comparing notes on their progeny, the two long- separated sisters have been the discussing the possible whereabouts of another sister, who was seperated from the others when about 3 years old.

After a separation of about forty years, Mrs. Meyers about a year ago visited with still another sister, now living in Saskatchewan.

Published in the Kansas City Star, Friday, December 31, 1954

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