WOMAN SHARES STRONG TWIN BOND\Lancaster resident recalls happy childhood with adopted family.

Byline: BETTIE RENCORET

LANCASTER - When Ellen Wilson, 74, of Lancaster had a set of twins in 1949, it was no surprise to her. She simply took it in her stride because she is a twin herself.

Besides that, she was adopted.

"Growing up adopted in Charlotte, North Carolina, was a wonderful experience," said Ellen.

"My sister, Lydia Helen, and I were born in Greensboro, N.C., and were adopted when we were 3 years old. We didn't know we were adopted until we were 15 but we didn't have problems with any of that. Our parents gave us so much love and attention we had no desire to find our biological parents."

They did enjoy hearing tales about their adoption and Ellen recalls the one that means the most to her.

"Our birth mother died when we were born and by the time we were 3 our father found he couldn't take care of us anymore. He put us up for adoption through an agency."

Theodore M. and Lydia Lambeth Abbott, a couple unable to have their own children, visited the home where the little girls lived, then arranged to take Lydia home with them.

Lydia, who had never been separated from Ellen before, felt the loneliness of being without her twin and the strangeness of the new situation that had parted them.

She cried and threw foot-stamping tantrums because she had no one to play with.

"After only a day or two, my father said to my mother, 'Let's go back and get the other one.' "

Like most twins the girls took advantage of their sameness at the same time they were awed by it.

Without communicating their thoughts on the subject, they could come home from school, go to their own rooms to change clothes and meet each other back in the hallway dressed exactly alike.

One summer while her sister was in a girls camp, their parents kept Ellen with them to take her to an ear doctor. On the way home they decided to go by the camp to see Lydia.

"It was uncanny. When Lydia came to greet us, there she was, again wearing an exact duplicate of what I was wearing."

They had fun in school, especially in chemistry class. Lydia was good in it and Ellen wasn't.

"Lydia knew all the answers so if the teacher called on me and it was something I didn't know, I'd just point to Lydia and say, 'That's Ellen over there.' Lydia would give the correct answer, I'd be saved and the teacher wouldn't know the difference."

In the spring 1941, after learning clerical skills at a business college, Ellen moved to Washington, D.C., to work in civil service for three years and met Terrence Eugene Wilson, a handsome serviceman.

He was sent from there to Galveston, Texas, and not long after, Ellen followed. They were married in the U.S. Army Air Corps field chapel there, Oct. 28, 1944.

Terrence was an electrician and when he was discharged after five years of military service, they came to Los Angeles.

In October 1946 their first child, Lorraine, was born, followed in February 1948 by a son, David Eugene. Twins Linda Ann and Vicki Lee arrived in July 1949.

"Things kind of came full circle for me then," she said.

After the children grew old enough, she went back to doing general office work. Terrence died in 1982 so working served as therapy for her.

Her last job was with Hughes Aircraft from which she retired in 1989.

In the near future Wilson intends to make trips to see her twin, Lydia Keeth, now of El Paso, Texas, and her brother, Theodore Merriman Abbott, also adopted, in Bradenton, Fla.

Meanwhile she stays busy walking (she no longer drives), doing needlework on plastic canvas, and volunteering both at her church and at a Methodist hospital in Los Angeles.

LANCASTER - The life writing class usually held the first and third Mondays at the Antelope Valley Senior Center has been canceled Monday due to conflicting activities.

The class still is expected to be held at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 5 in Room 101 at the center, 777 W. Jackman St.

LANCASTER - Menus for the week at the senior life nutrition sites in Lancaster, Palmdale and Pearblossom have been announced. All meals include bread, margarine and coffee, tea or milk.

Monday: Orange juice, macaroni and cheese, baby carrots, three-bean salad, cookies.

Tuesday: Pot roast, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, tossed salad, fruit cocktail.

Wednesday: Turkey a la king, biscuit, stewed tomatoes, tossed salad, Jell-O/yogurt.

Thursday: Hearty beef stew, rice, coleslaw, applesauce.

Friday: Meatloaf, baked potato, broccoli, marinated vegetables, ice cream.

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PHOTO

Photo Ellen Wilson displays a photograph taken with her twin, Lydia Keeth Bettie Rencoret/Special to the Daily News