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Photo by Elliot J. Sutherland/The Ottawa Herald
Kendra Peine, Ottawa, and her father Ken Lucas, Rantoul, are pictured with a portrait of Kendra and her sister Bonita Miller, at right in the portrait. Peine and her sister recently met for the first time after having grown up in different states.
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Christmas surprise: Dad helps long-lost sisters come together
After finding each other one year ago, sisters finally meet
By BRIAN WILLIAMS, Herald Staff Writer
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Christmas came early this year for Kendra Peine, 30, and Bonita Miller, 35.
The women, who have the same father but different mothers, grew up in different states. They had no contact with each other until about a year ago.
They finally met earlier this month.
In fact, it took more than a year of phone calls and e-mails between Kansas and Florida before they could arrange to meet Dec. 10. And it took their father to bring them together.
“We had been trying to plan to meet, but neither of us had money for plane tickets,” Peine, Ottawa, said.
That’s when Ken Lucas, Rantoul, stepped in to make sure his daughters got to see each other. He paid for Miller to fly to Kansas for a week.
“He said, ‘We’ll get her down. Tell her it was from Santa,’” Peine said her father told her about the plane tickets.
Miller was eager to accept the offer.
“I found out on Friday and was here on Monday,” Miller said.
Lucas admits it is hard for him to express himself in words, but said it was difficult not seeing his daughter after he and her mother divorced when the girl was 1-years-old.
“It’s like something was missing from my heart,” Lucas said.
Peine said her father did not contact Miller because of a divorce agreement.
“Dad had never talked about her. He didn’t know what to say,” Peine said.
The sisters came together when Miller found Peine on www.classmates.com. They began corresponding by phone and e-mail.
Seeing his daughters together and taking them places had Lucas beaming like a proud father.
“There’s an awful lot of resemblance between them. Everywhere we go people comment on it,” Lucas said.
One of the things that struck Miller when she got to Kansas was a sign she saw on the drive to her father’s house.
“It said ‘Memory Lane’ and I thought that was weird,” she said as she held a picture of the Memory Lane Tree Farm sign outside of Rantoul.
That isn’t the only picture she took in Kansas.
“I’ve been taking pictures of icicles, of trees in her [Peine’s] front yard and in her back yard,” she said.
Miller has discovered that this is a characteristic she shares with her father.
“Dad showed a video from 1995 and there were these pictures of trees, so I guess it runs in the family,” she said with a smile.
The sisters said they plan to keep in touch and share aspects of their lives.
“I don’t want her to leave. I want her to move to Kansas,” Peine said.
“We’re going to be staying in contact,” Miller said.
As they go into the future, they said they will all look back on December 2007 with a special smile.
“It’s just a happy Christmas,” Miller said.
“It’s kind of a beginning to a happy life,” Peine said.
Brian Williams can be reached at bwilliams@ottawaherald.com.
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