State takes away 14-year-old’s baby. 82 years later, mother and daughter meet for first time since

The saying goes that good things come to those who wait. Still, 96-year-old Lena Pierce had to wait a long, long time to find her daughter, Betty Morrell. When they did meet, it was a reunion 82 years in the making.

The journey began in 1933 at a hospital in Utica, New York. Pierce had just given birth to her daughter, Eva May. She was only 14-years-old. Though Pierce left the hospital with Eva May and took care of her for six months, child services eventually stepped in and took the child away since Pierce was still a ward of the state.

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Life went on and Pierce eventually got married—twice. Though she had six other children, she never forgot about her baby Eva May.

“There [were] a lot of times I worried about her and wondered where she was,” Pierce says. “She was growing up and I was growing old.”

Meanwhile, Eva May was indeed growing up with adoptive parents on Long Island who renamed her Betty Morrell. Though she appeared to be an only child, Morrell dreamed of having siblings to share her life with.

“I had imaginary sisters and imaginary brothers,” she says. “I had them all named and I would talk to them at night.”

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Morrell’s mother died when she was only 21-years-old. When her father died in 1954 a few years later, she was left all alone. Though she started her own family and lived her own life, her path soon changed after a simple conversation in 1966.

“An aunt of mine had slipped one day and said that my name was Eva,” Morrell says. “And she says, ‘You know you were born up in Utica?'”

With that information, Morrell started her search. Because it was a closed adoption, the path was difficult and took more than 50 years. She eventually used Ancestry.com, called Utica Hospital, and found her birth certificate. On it was her real mother’s name.

“It came through and she was alive, my God,” Morrell says with a laugh. “I’d been talking to her on the phone and it was like, ‘It’s all gone.’ My life is completed at this point.”

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The two finally reunited in the lobby of the Greater Binghamton Airport in Binghamton, New York, welcoming each other with open arms and warm tears.

“I’m real!” Pierce told her daughter as they embraced. “I’m not alone anymore,” Morrell said. “I have my mother and I have sisters and brothers.”

After everything, Morrell is so grateful to be reunited with her mother.

“It’s the best thing that’s happened to me,” she says. Even though so much time has passed, the pair remain optimistic about the future.

“We’ll catch up,” Pierce says with a smile.

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Above all, Morrell and Pierce’s story shows the power of love to overcome any obstacle. Although it may have taken a lifetime, the pair never lost faith that they would one day be together again. As of today, they have never been happier.

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