A Wisconsin woman who had spent the best part of a decade searching for her long-lost sister has discovered that her sibling has moved in next door. Hillary Harris, 31, from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, knew her sibling was called Dawn Johnson – so you can imagine her utter shock when she saw the name printed on a package for delivery to her neighbor. She decided to ask the woman about her background, and sure enough, the pair shared the same father, Wayne Clouse, who tragically passed back in 2002.
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Hillary had committed a huge amount of time and energy to locating her sibling, when Dawn unexpectedly moved in to the house next door about a year ago. “For me this is 100 percent fate. I was so sad when I discovered my biological father had passed away,” Hillary said, as reported by the Daily Mail.
“But by meeting Dawn, I feel like I have all the answers I will ever need. She’s the missing puzzle piece I have been looking for for so many years.” She continued: “For me something first clicked in June when I first found out her name was Dawn and she was from Greenwood.”
Hillary asked the woman flat out whether her Dad was a man by the name of Wayne Clouse. Her answer was astonishing.
“She confirmed it was Wayne,” Hillary recalled. “I told her we had a lot to talk about and she said, ‘We have the same dad don’t we?'” Hillary explained how she and half-sister Dawn have grown incredibly close since discovering they were so closely related.
“When I met my birth mum I thought I would have this tingly feeling and an immediate bond and I didn’t,” she said. “With Dawn I felt an immediate connection.”
“It’s such a weird coincidence,” Dawn said, adding that she did not grow up knowing her father but formed a relationship with him years later. “Of all the hundreds of thousands of homes we bought a house that shares a driveway with my sister.”
“I was ecstatic and so was my sister Renee. She couldn’t believe it.”
As the two families continue to get acquainted, Dawn is incredibly thankful that she now has a niece, Stella, to build a relationship with.
“‘I have become so close to Stella. I had only ever had boys so it is so fun to have a little girl playing in the front yard,” she said. “Hopefully my boys will be able to meet the whole family soon.”
“Stella just loves Dawn,” Hillary added. “She thinks she so fun and has loved getting to know her.”
“I think all our bad luck with weird neighbors finally turned around because I feel so lucky to have found Dawn.”