Barbara Herbert and Dianne Goodship
After being separated at birth, Barbara Herbert and Dianne Goodship were finally reunited. After the suicide of their biological mother, both girls were adopted by British families. While one lady was a polish nun, the other was a Michigan housewife. That seems to be where the differences end and the similarities begin. Although the women were raised separately, the way their lives have paralleled is truly amazing!
At 14 years of age both girls stopped attending school. Then at 15yrs. they both had an accident were they fell down some stairs and hurt their ankles. That is nothing however, compared to what happened next. At 16 years old, both women met their future husbands at a dance at their Town Hall. The ladies had each taken jobs in their local government. Both suffered a miscarriage in the same month and then gave birth to 2 boys and a daughter, all without ever knowing each other.
When the two women were reunited, they were both wearing similar cream colored outfits and velvet jackets. After talking for a while they discovered that they both enjoyed drinking their coffee cold and they had a habit of pushing their noses up with the palms of their hands, a habit that each woman had nicknamed “squidging”. I find this all to be truly unbelievable! But these things are just the tip of the iceberg.
The twins were studied at the University of Michigan’s center for twin and adoption research which was founded by Thomas J. Bouchard Ph.D. There, it was discovered that there were medical similarities in the woman as well. The women were both diagnosed with heart murmurs and thyroid problems. During the I.Q. test it was found that the ladies were only separated by ONE point! Psychological tests showed that the Identical Twins also shared similar personalities.
Is it possible that parents don’t mold their children as much as we would like to think? Maybe DNA plays a bigger role in how a people turn out than originally thought.
While the story of these identical twins is incredible because of the similarities of the two women, the next story is incredible in the way the women came to find each other. Please enjoy.
Adriana Scott and Tamara Rabi
20 years ago, Dianne Scott and her husband Peter decided to adopt a child. The couple flew to Mexico to pick up their new baby girl only to find out that the little girl was an identical twin. Dianne and Peter wanted to take both girls as not to separate them but they were informed that the biological mother had taken one of the children and fled the hospital. It was then that Dianne had decided not to tell her daughter (Adriana Scott) that she was an identical twin. Scott feared that her daughter would blame her for separating the two of them.
As the years went by, it seemed that Dianne’s secret would be safe forever. That is until Adriana graduated high school and went away to college. While away at college Adriana had met a boy named Justin Latorre. The two had gone out a few times but didn’t really hit it off. One of Justin’s friends decided to set him up with a girl from a college just ten minutes away, the girl was named Tamara Rabi.
The first time Justin saw Tamara he said,”you look just like a girl I’ve been seeing”! The resemblance was so uncanny that Justin immediately called Adriana and left a message for her to call him back. Now the girls had each other’s email address but were nervous about writing each other. When Adriana told her mother about what had happened, Dianne asked her what Tamara’s last name was. When Adriana told her that Tamara’s last name was Rabi, Dianne knew that it was time to talk. She explained what had happened and told Adriana that she had wanted to adopt both girls, but the mother wouldn’t allow it.
Adrianna and Tamara decided to meet in a parking lot at the local McDonald’s. They said that when they met, they didn’t cry because they hadn’t known about each other therefore they didn’t miss each other. When the girls saw each other for the first time, they noticed that each had worn the same type of “bubble jacket” and both were in blue jeans. The two hit it off as friends and said that it just “felt right” to be together. There were many differences in the way that these identical twins had been raised. Adriana had gone to a local public school and was raised catholic while Tamara had been sent to an elite private school and was raised by her Jewish parents. All along, the girls had lived just 25 minutes away from each other. Tamara’s mother was stunned. Judy, Tamara’s adoptive mother never knew that Tamara had a sister, let alone an identical twin. When Judy saw Adriana for the first time, she was amazed that the girls looked just alike.
To add to this incredible story, Tamara’s adoptive father (Judy’s husband) had passed away from cancer only two weeks before the girls had learned about each other. That in itself was ironic because ten years earlier Adriana’s father had also passed from cancer. Both families believe that it was the girl’s fathers who brought them together.
Adriana and Tamara were taken to Guadalajara by 48 Hours to try to find their birth mother (Norma). It didn’t take long until Norma was located. Dianne Scott, Adriana’s adoptive mother, had no desire to speak with Norma. She said that she knew what went on back then and wondered if Norma would be truthful with the girls. When they met in person, Norma told a far different story of the events leading up to the adoption than was told by Dianne’s friend and lawyer for the adoption. Norma said that even though the girls may not think of her as their mother, she thinks of them as her daughters and is just happy that they are alive.
This story was written in June of 2004, and at that time Adriana had graduated college with a degree in psychology. Tamara hoped to graduate the following winter with a minor in psychology. I’m sure that she has accomplished this.
I think it is amazing how much identical twins have in common even when they are not raised together. There are currently more identical twins than ever before due to the use of fertility drugs and/or women waiting until later in life to have children. I would just like to say “Good Luck” and “God Bless You” to all of the identical twins out there! I find you to be very interesting as well as “Lucky” to have each other.
