Siblings meet for first time in 6 decades thanks to DNA test

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. -- Bound by blood but separated by fate, two sisters met in the Bay Area on Tuesday for the first time after a lifetime apart.

The two sisters never knew each other. But each had an emptiness in their hearts they said that only the other could fill.

“Since I was 10, I knew that I had a sibling,” Morgan Reynolds told CBS San Francisco. “But I also knew that I would never ever see her.”

That was then. But no more, thanks to a DNA test -- through MyHeritage DNA -- that changed the lives of Reynolds and her sister Jennisara Sumiri.

Now, more than six decades later, they were united for the first time.

“The moment I heard her voice on the phone, something clicked inside of me and I started crying,” said Sumiri.

They share the same father -- Ray Edward Reynolds -- a gas station owner from Washington state.

He was married to Morgan’s mother but had an affair that produced Jennisara before Morgan was born.

“This is what he looked like when he met your mother,” said Reynolds, showing a photo of their father as a young man.

“I so don’t blame her!” laughed Sumiri.

Jennisara’s birth mom put her up for adoption and Ray Reynolds eventually left Morgan and her mom.

The sisters lived separate lives until last month when Jennisara’s son bought a MyHeritage DNA kit.

“He said mom, ‘I think I may have found your sister.’ I said, ‘What? No...WHAT?’” exclaimed Sumiri.

It matched up with Reynolds, who had also joined the registry, as a possible relative.

“Her son Ted found...he found us,” said Reynolds. “After seeing he was my nephew, it just made sense that my father’s daughter was here.”

“I found a sister when I least expected to,” said Sumiri.

It’s been a rush of emotions. And things now certain make sense, like Jennisara’s special talent.

“He sang,” said Reynolds.

“And I sing and I always wondered where that connection was,” said Sumiri.

Their father and mothers have passed away, but now the sisters are looking forward to the future together.

And for the first time, this year they can’t wait to celebrate each other’s birthdays.

One other twist to the story: Sumiri was originally named Jennifer-Raye as a hint to her natural father’s name. But that name was later changed to Jennisara by her adoptive parents.