A long-lost sister of a 99-year-old woman who died in Missouri was found after a funeral home put out a heartbreaking plea to find her family.
When Katherine Shirley died in Kansas City in May, she had no friends or family to celebrate her life and became a ward of the state and was set to be cremated.
When Marcom-Harvey Funeral Care learned the woman had already paid for her funeral and picked out the flowers she wanted, they agreed to give her the proper send-off she wanted, but they were desperate to find her loved ones to join in.
A genealogist in Nevada heard the story and set out to help, eventually finding Shirley’s half-sister, Shelia Johnson, who will be flying out for her sibling’s celebration of life on August 9, according to Fox 4 Kansas City.
Johnson has been searching for her long-lost sister for more than 50 years and was ‘devastated’ and ‘heartbroken’ to learn she had passed.
When Katherine Shirley died in Kansas City in May, she had no friends or family to celebrate her life and became a ward of the state and was set to be cremated. When Marcom-Harvey Funeral Care learned the woman had already paid for her funeral, they agreed to give her the proper send off she wanted, but they were desperate to find her loved ones to join in
A genealogist in Nevada heard the story and set out to help, eventually finding Shirley’s half sister, Shelia Johnson, who will be flying out for her sibling’s celebration of life on August 9
‘I couldn’t find her or anything and nobody knew anything about Katherine except that she went back to Kansas City, Missouri, and that was that was that. I gave up, I didn’t know if she was alive or dead or what,’ she told the local outlet over the phone.
The pair had lost contact with each other after Shirley moved back to Missouri from Los Angeles, California, according to Fox 4.
Shirley lived at Life Care Center of Grandview, a nursing home, for the last 30 years of her life, and had no prior addresses listed, making it nearly impossibly for Johnson to find her.
Now, Johnson is thanking the kind people of Kansas City for helping the funeral find her and showing love toward her sister.
The pair had lost contact with each other after Shirley moved back to Missouri from Los Angeles, California, and she had given up on trying to find her sister until the funeral home’s call (pictured: the funeral home)
‘I’m so overwhelmed with joy and blessings knowing all that Kansas City, Missouri is doing for my sister,’ she told Fox 4.
Aesha Humphrey, the co-owner of Marcom-Harvey Funeral Care, said the feat shows the ‘goodness of humanity’ and that they got calls and texts and emails from all over the world about Shirley.
The late woman’s funeral will be open to the public and plenty have vowed to come celebrate Shirley’s life next week.
They are encouraged to wear pink – Shirley’s favorite color.
