Christmas was an extra special time for one local family this year, because it was the first time they spent Christmas together as a family.
The Wheeler family – father Gerald “Chic” Wheeler, mother Shirley Wheeler, and their children Pam Currie, Teresa Smyth, Kelly Wheeler and twins Scott Marasse and Todd Marasse – have only been fully reunited for a few months, but they already feel like they’ve known each other forever.
The Marasse twins connected with the rest of the family earlier this year after nearly 50 years apart.
A Christmas dinner was spent together, just the seven of them, on Dec. 20, at Gerald and Shirley’s home in Bienfait. The following night, they had their full Christmas dinner with spouses, children and other family members present at Kelly’s home in Stoughton.
It was the latest chapter in a beautiful story of separation, reunification and now celebrations.
Shirley made the heart-wrenching decision nearly 50 years ago to put the twins up for adoption. She was separated from Gerald at the time, and they already had the three young children.
Gerald knew that the boys were out there, somewhere, and so did Teresa, as Gerald had confided in her when she was going through some tough times as well.
Todd, the older of the twin boys by by about 10 minutes, knew they were adopted at a young age, and that his birth mother’s name was Wheeler, thanks to a newspaper clipping that identified him as Todd Wheeler.
“When Facebook first came out, I searched Wheeler, and nothing came up,” said Todd.
The twins have always lived in Moose Jaw, and so they have always been in the same province as the bulk of the Wheeler clan.
“We could have very easily bumped into each other,” said Todd.
Teresa has two sons who live in Moose Jaw, and she has spent a lot of time in the city.
“I studied Kelly and what he looked like as he was growing up, and every time I was out, I would be looking for faces that looked like Kelly,” said Teresa, who kept the secret for 26 years.
Todd’s wife Christine had purchased him an Ancestry DNA kit, hoping they would find a connection to the family they had never known. Their pastor had found a sister through Ancestry, and Todd thought it might work for him.
“We got the kit, and I probably sat on it for a month before I decided to do it,” said Todd.
He had to provide a saliva sample, sent it to Ireland and wait for results.
“I was hesitant about doing it, because you don’t know (what will happen). This is a big interruption in somebody’s life, and if something did come of it, what if they didn’t want to be in my life?”
An email came to Todd and Christine at 5:30 a.m. on June 21, and his wife woke him to say there was a connection with a Pam C.
“If it had said Pam C. Wheeler, I would have said for sure this was it,” said Todd.
Meanwhile, Pam’s husband Paul had bought her an Ancestry DNA kit; at the time, she didn’t realize it would be the best gift she would ever receive. But Pam wanted it to learn more about her ethnicity.
“On the other side of the document that you get is your matches, DNA matches to people, and that was interesting because it was family names that I recognized, so there were names I knew,” said Currie.
The kit uses a term called centimorgans to track potential matches. One of her first cousins was 346 centimorgans, which is a very high number.
Each time there was a match, she received an email stating the connection. On June 21, she received a message from Ancestry, and another from Todd, saying they had connected through the DNA match as siblings. Their centimorgan number was 2,700.
Needless to say, Pam was stunned. She called her mother, confirmed it with her over coffee, and the process began for the reunion.
“It was wonderful news to hear,” said Pam. She was happy to have actually had found the connection. It was very emotional, there’s no doubt about it. We connected right away, and it just needed time to sink in.”
Once Pam had the kit, Teresa knew it would be a matter of time before a connection occurred with their long-lost siblings.
They met at Todd and Christine’s house in Moose Jaw. Alan Jackson’s song The Older I Get was playing in the background.
“It was very suiting to the moment, and made it very emotional as well,” said Pam. “We also had a photographer who captured the moments of us first meeting, so that was really awesome to be able to see them now and to revel in the moment and remember how wonderful it was.”
The Marasse twins had gifts for their new-found family members – framed photos with a picture of the two of them with family written at the top of the frame. The women received necklaces, and Shirley received a two-heart diamond necklace.
“I haven’t taken it off ever since I got it,” Shirley said.
Gerald and Kelly received t-shirts. Gerald’s said “World’s Best Dad” while Kelly’s had “Promoted to Big Brother.” Handprints of the twins were on the shirts, too.
Then they gathered in Esterhazy for the birthday of Pam’s granddaughter Piper.
“It was like having a family reunion, and you just hadn’t seen everybody for a long time,” said Teresa. “There were no hiccups in conversation.”
Subsequent get-togethers have been for the twins 49th birthday in September and Thanksgiving dinner in October.
Their story has been getting lots of attention, not only because of the uniqueness of it, but because they successfully applied to be on CBC’s Family Feud, hosted by comedian Gerry Dee. The filming occurred on Dec. 2, and will air on Jan. 13, which, fittingly enough, is Gerald’s 80th birthday, giving them two reasons to celebrate that day.
Kelly’s wife suggested that they enter to compete on the show, since they are now a family of five siblings. They made a five-minute video and submitted a brief write-up on their family history. After an audition when they showed their collective energy and sense of humour, they were accepted to compete as the Wheelers.
“It was exhilarating,” said Pam. “Just the atmosphere of being in a studio – and it was a big studio – and the lights and the meeting Gerry Dee, and the audience in the crowd, it was amazing.”
It was also great to have 12 family members in attendance.
Other families took a keen interest in the Wheeler story, and offered their support as well.
They’re surprised with the attention they have received, with national media outlets and even the British Broadcasting Corporation interviewing them.
But everyone they have talked to has remarked what a great story it is. Some families that have reunited have not had the same connection or willingness to spend time together, but the Wheelers are happy.
“The story is so heart-warming and so uplifting that we were so fortunate to have found each other, and to have an instant loving family connection, it’s so good,” said Pam.
“This is such a great family, a very, very loving family, and to witness that and to be brought in has just been absolutely amazing,” Todd added.
