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- Joanne Loewenstern, who was adopted and told that her mother had died shortly after birth, was reunited with her now 100-year-old mom.
- Joanne reunited with her half-brother about a week ago before finally getting a chance to meet her mother.
A reunion eight decades in the making took place this week in Palm Beach County – as an 80-year-old woman was reunited with biological mother for the first time since her birth.
Joanne Loewenstern, who was adopted as a baby and told at the age of 16 that her mother had died shortly after birth, was reunited with her now 100-year-old mother, Lillian Ciminieri, at a Port St. Lucie assisted living facility.
Loewenstern, who lives in Boca Raton, was able to take part in the reunion after her daughter-in-law, Shelley, created an Ancestry.com account nearly a year ago – finding a DNA match when Ciminieri’s son, Samson, also created an account.
“She was in pain and I could see it. She was always saying I don’t know where I’m from,” Shelley told NBC affiliate WPTV.
"She asked me if I knew a Lillian Feinsilver. I said yes, that’s my mother,” Samson said, referring to her mother’s maiden name.
Joanne reunited with her half-brother about a week ago before finally getting a chance to meet her mother, who according to a caretaker said that her baby born in 1938 had died.
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“I look like her, the eyes...I knew that she was my mother,” Joanne said. “I'm proud. This is something I wanted to do all my life. Now, I’m through.”
Joanne says she plans to visit her biological mother as often as possible.
