It Took 55 Years For Sisters To Unite

CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Karen Stum’s parents died with a secret. Charles and Lavinia Stiffler raised three children together, two boys and Karen, and Charles also had a daughter from his first marriage. None of the Stiffler children knew there was another daughter, born last and given up for adoption as a newborn. Karen was just 5 years old then, her brothers even younger. Last month, 55 years after her sister was given up, Karen finally met Vicki Kleiner. Karen, who now lives in Chambersburg, and Vicki, a New Jersey native, met at a park in Annville in February, trying to put the pieces of their common bond together. Vicki had been searching for her biological family for many years, helped by the opening this year of old adoption records in New Jersey.