Have you ever thought that the person you are working with is your half-sister or a long-lost family member? It might be weird to think about such a thing, but such an incident had happened to Cheryl Becker and Linda Rinaldi.
Meet The Half-Sisters
Cheryl Becker is 68 years old, while Linda Rinaldi is 69. These two ladies had met while they were working at a hospital in Connecticut, more than three decades ago and they had always felt and shared something unique.
“She’s always been the nicest person I’ve ever known.” Rinaldi said to TODAY.
The two had met while working at the hospital, 30 years ago, but had failed to keep in touch after Rinaldi moved away. All of this would change when Cheryl’s husband, Ralph, gained some interest in genealogy and ancestry.
Read: Struggling Man Inherits $60 Million Estate After DNA Test Proves He’s The Rightful Heir
Rgenealogy & The Reunion Of The Half-Sisters
Cheryl believes that her husband’s interest in genealogy was a blessing. She was presented with a DNA test as a gift and had visited one of the DNA websites to check it out. She believed that she was part French and part Italian but the DNA results said otherwise.
“It was telling me I was from the British Isles,” Becker said. “It didn’t specifically say Ireland, it didn’t say that I was totally Irish. But it didn’t tell me I was Italian, and that was all I knew.”
Such revelations made Cheryl feel like her whole life was a lie and she didn’t know who she really was. She looked in the mirror and kept asking herself, ‘Who am I?’
Things became extremely difficult for her when she found out that the man who raised her was not her biological father. “I don’t think he ever knew that,” she told TODAY.
Things looked to be extremely confusing and chaotic, but the genealogy tests offered a ray of hope for the suspecting half-sisters.
.@annenbcnews shares the incredible story of two Connecticut women who started off as coworkers and made the shocking discovery that they were sisters. pic.twitter.com/Or40tFrzEN
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 10, 2021
Linda And Cheryl Look Forward To A Great “30 Years” In The Future
The results stated that she was closely related to Linda Rinaldo. She then told her husband that, she used to work with her and could tell that it was the same person.
The result just stated ‘closely related or first cousin’.
“She said we were related, that’s all she told me,” Rinaldi recalled. “I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if we were sisters?’ And she says, ‘I know you’re my sister.'”
Linda joked that she never thought that she would ever find someone who had the same sense of humor as herself.
The results from a DNA test confirmed Becker’s hunch. It stated that they were half-sisters born only 16 months apart.
Cheryl Beckers felt that this was a blessing from above as she felt that Linda made her realize a sister’s gift.
“The fact that she welcomed me with open arms. She just welcomed me. And I think that was the turning point for me.”
The half-sisters are now looking forward to making up for the lost time. Becker added that they had lost the last 30 years but have received the next 30, instead.
“We have to make memories like sisters do. A hard thing turned into a beautiful thing.”
Keep Reading: Woman finds 4.38-carat diamond at Crater of Diamonds State Park
Sources
- “30 years after working together, women discover they are half-sisters.” Today. Kait Hanson. December 10, 2021.
