‘It was just instant’: Long-lost sisters finally meet in Vancouver

Nearly 30 years ago, Ruth-Ann Stewart of Vancouver sent a letter to her birth father. She never heard back.

It was only recently, decades later, that she received an unexpected email. It was from a sister she never knew she had. Last week, the women came face-to-face for the first time.

It all started when Stewart, an adoptee, was working on a family origin assignment while doing her Masters in Counselling Psychology. She decided to send a letter to her birth father, who she had never met.

“I had always been curious about it. That’s what happens when you’re adopted,” she told CityNews. “You fantasize about what your birth parents were all about.”

After the letter went unanswered, Stewart tried to find out if she had any siblings, but came up empty-handed.

“I had no way to get a hold of them. The adoption registry won’t let you contact siblings unless they’ve put their name in somewhere and said that they were interested,” she explained.

“They need to know that you even exist.”

About 30 years after Stewart sent that letter, Darlene Kellar of Kingston, Ont. found it while going though her father’s estate. Kellar looked Stewart up online, discovered she was a psychotherapist from Vancouver, and decided to reach out.

“I sent her an email, and I said, ‘This is who I am, and I explained that my dad passed away and who he was.'”

Stewart replied less than 10 minutes later.

“I’d had no idea he had kept it. I had no idea that anyone would be able to find me.”

The pair began talking regularly soon after, but life got in the way of them meeting in-person for several years. Stewart’s husband Ted was in the late stages of cancer, and then the pandemic began.

“As soon as COVID hit, we talked constantly about getting together. And this was the first opportunity I had,” Kellar told CityNews.

During the three-year wait, the sisters frequently video-chatted and became fast friends.

“So when I came here, it wasn’t as though we didn’t know each other […] it was just instant,” Kellar said.

Kellar grew up with three older brothers and always wanted a sister.

One of Kellar’s siblings was a biological brother who she shared with Stewart. Unfortunately, he passed away before he could meet his long-lost sister.

“So I had to tell her, ‘I’m sorry but you’re not going to get to meet your brother,'” Kellar remembered.

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Kellar was not surprised her dad kept her sister a secret. Kellar had cut ties with her father years before his death, adding she had an abusive upbringing.

“He would not want me to meet [Ruth-Ann], because he would not want me to tell her stories about growing up,” she said. “I’m grateful that she didn’t get that, and that she had the opportunity to have a different life.”

Despite the 59 years apart, the sisters are excited to finally be together and are celebrating Stewart’s 60th birthday in Vancouver.

“I know this is going to be a long, long relationship,” Kellar said. “I know I’ll leave here and we’ll make plans to see each other again.”