For Montana Sisters, A Bond Nearing 100 Years

The two Polish-born sisters — one a centenarian, the other close behind — figured they’d never see each other again.

Some 2,000 miles separated them. Helena Stefaniak was in Helena, Montana, where she’d moved to be near her daughter, and Barbara Rychlowski was in Clifton, N.J. Health complications made travel difficult — until AARP stepped in.

Their separation was nothing like it had been during World War II, when each sister wondered if the other was alive. The Nazis in 1944 snatched them from Warsaw, where they had lived in a Catholic orphanage following their mother’s death. They were conscripted to separate German labor camps. Cold and hungry, they survived — and after the liberation, found each other by word of mouth amid millions of displaced people.

Now widowed by the husbands who immigrated with them to the U.S., each sister lives independently. Barbara, 97, climbs a flight of stairs to her apartment. Despite severely diminished vision, Helena, 101, can use her stove and follow her favorite show, “Jeopardy!” They talk by phone daily — about the world, friends, family and memories of pre-war Warsaw.

Their bond is unshakable. But until last August, they hadn’t met face-to-face in five years.

That’s when AARP charitable affiliate Wish of a Lifetime helped out. It covered first-class airfare to Newark — so Helena, barely able to stand or see, could elevate her legs—plus a hotel for her and her daughter, Helen Fee (an AARP Montana volunteer).

Their reunion, which both say was their last one, was joyous. “They hugged, they cried,” Fee recalls. They chattered in Polish.

“I can’t even express myself how happy I was really to see her,” says Barbara.

“Everything was perfect,” Helena says. “I never expected it.”

—Rita Beamish