Community Corner

After 69 Years, Sisters are Still 'Twin-separable'

Bonnie Harley and Connie Smith, 69, have made seven trips to Twinsburg for the Twins Days Festival

Bonnie Harley and Connie Smith made their seventh trip to the Twins Days Festival this weekend.

The Duncansville, PA pair wanted to come a long time ago, but they had too many things going on. 

But once they visited the annual celebration of , they were glad they finally made it.

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"We thought if we don't do it soon, it's going to be too late," Bonnie said. "It's fun to come and see all of it."

For these two, the twin bond is a special one.

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Even after 69 years, they love spending much of their time together. They even live seven minutes from one another.

"We've learned that you can't live too far apart," Bonnie said.

The twins learned that lesson pretty fast.

When Connie got married, she and her husband decided to move to Maryland, in September. By Thanksgiving the pair was reunited in Duncansville.

"It was expensive living there," Connie said. "And I was homesick."

"She missed me and her mommy," Bonnie added jokingly.

As children, they didn't try to pull any tricks on teachers or class mates, like some might think. They said they were both "good girls."

"We were shy," Bonnie said.

"We were afraid we would get in trouble," Connie added.

The twins both agreed they have been inseperable since birth.

"When you refer to your other half, usually you mean your spouse," Connie said. "My husband will say, 'I'm not her other half.' They've known that from day one."

While they believe twins of this generation try to seek an individual identity for themselves, they embrace their distinct similarities.

When they go out in public, they still coordinate outfits to match each other, much to their husbands' chagrin.

"My husband will say, 'Just put something on!'" Connie said.

If people can't tell them apart, they just call them the "'Onnies." 

"Then they're never wrong," Bonnie said.

The best thing about having a twin is always having someone to be with, they said. They always had a friend and never had to look very hard for someone to do stuff with.

"Most twins nowadays are different from us," Connie said. "They want to be individual and not dress alike and go to seperate colleges."

That's just not Bonnie and Connie's style.

As they meet twins who are seperated by different distances, they realize it would be hard to be apart. But no matter where one twin is compared to the other, they have simple advice.

"Just try to stay close, wherever they are," Connie said.


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