After 82 years, daughter and mom reunited

It was a reunion 82 years in the making.

A mother and her daughter were reunited last month for the first time since being separated in 1933.

ABC 7 New York reported that Betty Morrell, 82, learned about 50 years ago that she was adopted after a conversation with her aunt.

“An aunt of mine had one day slipped and said my name was Eva,” she told the station. “And I said, ‘Oh.’ And she says, ‘And you know, you were born up in Utica [N.Y.].”

Morrell’s adopted parents died while she was in her twenties, and the search continued. She eventually consulted Ancestry.com and learned that she was born in Utica Hospital, which led her to the birth certificate showing her birth mother’s name.

Her mom, Lena Pierce, 96, said she was forced to give up her daughter in 1933 because she had her when she was just 14, and it was deemed by the state that she was too young to raise a child. It turned out that Morrell’s birth name was Eva May.

“You know, it came through, and she was alive,” Morrell said. “And my God, I had been talking to her on the phone, and it was like, it’s all gone. My life is complete at this point.”