Brother, sister reunited after 67 years
Published: June 12, 2006
When John Vander Woude picked up his sister at Sky Harbor International Airport last month, he didn’t know whether he would recognize her face. It had been nearly 70 years since the 91-year-old Tempe man had seen his younger sister.
But when Wilma “Boots” Steel came for a two-week stay from her home in North Pole, Alaska, the two siblings were able to re-establish a relationship that both had wondered would ever be rekindled after being separated as children when their parents split up.
Vander Woude took time this week to talk to The Republic and reflect on this remarkable family reunion that was a long, long time coming.
What did you do during your time together?
“We went to senior citizens (center in Ahwatukee) a couple times and I introduced her to my friends there. We went up to the cabin in Overgaard. We stayed there over the weekend. And we went to my favorite restaurant, Golden Gate Chinese Restaurant, and they didn’t believe it hardly that we hadn’t seen each other in over 67 years. They said, ‘Well that’s older than we are.’ ”
Was there a memory that stood out?
“While we were up at the cabin, we was going out to lunch one day, or night I think it was. And there was a metalsmith man with a lot of moose and coyotes and pigs. . . . The man that was running it starts talking (with us and) it came out that we hadn’t seen each other in 67 years and that she was called ‘Boots.’ So he picked up a heavy metal cowboy boot and says ‘Here, I’ll paint it any color you want.’ Well Boots, she says, ‘Well that’s Boot, I’m Boots.’ He laughs and says ‘Oh you, have to have two, do you?’ Now, they are on my terrace. It’s a really good keepsake.”
What was the best part about the reunion?
“That I could see her. I could talk to her. It’s not the same on the phone. Talking to a person, you get to now them a lot better when you are talking to them personally. . . . We had a good time, and we didn’t waste a minute of it. We got up early in the morning and stayed up late at night. It was really nice to have her with me for a while.”
How do you plan on staying in touch in the future?
“Telephone. I call her; she calls me. We’re all each other has left in that part of our family, so we want to keep talking.”
Will she visit again?
“I think so. We haven’t put anything into plans, but she talked about flying down when it gets 40 degrees below zero up there (in Alaska) for a couple of months. I told her she always had a front room in my house. . . . She can come anytime she wants to and stay as long as she wants to.”
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