Last Sunday, the world's oldest female conjoined twins, Lowry and George Chappell, died in Pennsylvania, USA, at the age of 62.
According to an obituary released by the Leben Spegg Funeral Home, they died at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital on an undisclosed cause of death at 62 years and 202 days, nine years older than the second-oldest female conjoined twins on record.
(Lowry & George)
Lowry and George were born on September 18, 1961 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and at birth, their skulls were partially fused, sharing vital blood vessels and 30% of the brain, which could not be separated, and it is said to be the rarest form of conjoined twins...
Lowry is able-bodied and 1.55 meters tall, while George is only 1.32 meters tall because he suffers from spina bifida and has limited mobility, and he sits in a special wheelchair for the rest of his life, pushed by Lowry. Because of the different directions of their heads, they are connected all their lives but they cannot see each other for the rest of their lives.
Due to the special body structure, the doctor asserted early on that they "will not live to be 30 years old", but in real life, their lives did not develop according to the "prediction" of experts...
(Lowry & George)
Although Lowry and George are conjoined babies and share brains, they have always lived as independent individuals, their personalities, hobbies, marriage and love concepts do not coincide, and their career development is also very different.
In order to show that she and Lowry are truly independent individuals, George changed her birth name "Dolly" to "Reba" very early on, and Reba was in honor of her favorite singer, Reba McCantyre, and most importantly, so that she did not rhyme with Lori.
(Lowry & George)
For the first 24 years of their lives, Lowry and George spent their lives in a "severely mentally handicapped" institution, but they did not actually have mental or intellectual problems, lived independently, and excelled in their studies.
At the age of 21, they fought a lawsuit against the agency to prove their ability to live independently, leaving the cage and moving into a two-bedroom apartment in Pennsylvania.
In this apartment, they each have a room and are not subject to any outside assistance.
Usually, the two will take turns to spend the night in each other's rooms, reserving as much space for themselves as possible. When spending the night in Lowry's room, it is exactly what Lori likes, and when he spends the night in George's room, Lowry will empty himself and let George concentrate on playing the instrument, without interrupting her or talking to her, so that George can enjoy the night that is exclusive to her.
The two took great care to leave space for each other, and even bathed separately, pulling a shower curtain as a barrier when taking a shower, and while one person showered, the other stood outside the bath.
In terms of family division, Lowry cooks and George is responsible for some DIY housework.
George doesn't drink alcohol, but Lowry occasionally likes to drink vodka, and Lowry's hangover doesn't bother George because their bodies are completely separated.
(Lowry & George)
When it comes to choosing a mate, the two also have completely different ideas. Lowry hopes to fall in love and marry like ordinary people, have a husband and children in the future, form a small family, and find a boyfriend after regaining his freedom. George is not resistant to Lori's thoughts, and every time Lori goes on a date, George quietly reads a book next to him, and when she and her boyfriend are intimate, George pretends that he doesn't exist...
Lori, who longs for family life, even got engaged, but four months before the wedding, her fiancé died in a car accident, resulting in the marriage not consummating... It was only with George's side that Lowry survived the grief of losing her beloved...
(Lowry, George, and Lowry's fiancé)
And George, although he didn't do much in marriage and love, he made a different choice in terms of gender...
In 2007, George suddenly announced that he was changing his name from "Ruiba" to his current name "George", and publicly disclosed that he was a transgender man. She and Lowry have since been referred to as "brother and sister" and have since become the first pair of same-sex conjoined twins of "different genders".
According to George, she felt like she was supposed to be a boy from a very young age, an idea that even Lowry never told...
(Lowry & George)
In terms of career development, the two also cooperate with each other and follow their own paths.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, George was a successful country singer who won the Los Angeles Music Award for Best New Country Artist, while Lowry attended a secretarial school, was an award-winning bowler, and worked in a hospital laundry for six years.
Since George is well-known in the music industry and often receives invitations to perform from all over the world, Lowry volunteered to arrange his workload with George's performance schedule, and they have traveled to many countries together, and even to perform in Japan as far away as Asia...
While Lowry was working in the laundry room and developing a hobby of ball games, George was listening to music and doing his own thing, without disturbing each other...
(Lowry & George)
(Lowry & George)
As conjoined twins, Lowry and George have appeared on many talk shows, made documentaries, and even worked as actors, making cameo appearances in the TV series "Nip/Tuck" as a pair of conjoined twins Ross and Raven Rosenberg.
I remember that in the 1997 documentary, when Lowry and George were asked if they wanted to separate, they both said "never", and asked the interviewer: "Why fix something that isn't broken?"
(Lowry & George)
They have never seen each other in their lives, they are independent of each other but support each other, not only overturning the doctor's "30-year-old" prediction, but also becoming the famous long-lived twins...
In 2015, they surpassed the conjoined twins who died at the age of 53, Martha and Dasha Krivoshlyapova, to become the oldest female conjoined twins ever, breaking the Guinness World Record... At the time of his death, he was a full 9 years older than the second oldest female conjoined twin...
(Lowry & George)
Although their lives are limited, they have worked hard to live hard, and Lowry and George have no regrets...