Mother reunited with daughter she thought died 69 years ago

An 88-year-old American woman has been reunited with the daughter she was told had died at birth 69 years ago, The New York Times reported. Genevieve Purinton of Tampa, Florida, met her 69-year-old daughter Connie Moultroup of Richmond, Vermont, for the first time this month, the newspaper said.

Purinton was 18 years old and unmarried when she gave birth to a girl in Gary, Indiana. “I was told it was a girl, but she died,” she told the Times. The newspaper said that in fact, a doctor at the hospital where Purinton gave birth had arranged for the baby to be adopted. Moultroup tracked down her birth mother after taking a DNA test on Ancestry.com, the Times said.

She traveled to Florida this month to meet her. “You’re not dead,” Purinton said when they were reunited. “It was a bawlfest,” said Moultroup. “She was so happy to meet me.”