EUREKA, Ks. (KSN) — It was a late Christmas gift for sisters Troy Whitaker and Tonya Kellett on New Year’s Day. The sisters were reunited Friday afternoon in Eureka, Kansas after being separated in 1966.
In June of 1966, their father took 4-year-old Tonya. Troy was only 18-months-old. Their parents were going through a divorce, which set off a whirlwind of events. Whitaker said her father told the family that her sister had died. Another time he told the family Tonya was crippled and in a home. He Tonya that her sister and mother had died in a car wreck.
Tears of joy and emotion were abundant, especially as Whitaker shared pictures and items that her sister had never seen before.
The family says the reunion today is just the beginning.
A larger reunion will occur on Saturday with many extended family members who also had been searching years for Tonya.
