Oldest living conjoined twins were Pa. residents
READING, Pa. — Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died April 7, according to funeral home officials. They were 62.
The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, according to obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg. The cause of death was not detailed.
“When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. George came out as transgender in 2007.
The twins, born Sept. 18, 1961, in West Reading, Pa., had distinct brains but were joined at the skull. George, who had spina bifida and was 4 inches shorter, was wheeled around by Lori on an adaptive wheeled stool. Despite each having to go where the other went, it was “very important” to both “to live as independently as possible,” the obituary said.
Both graduated from a public high school and took college classes. George went along for six years as Lori worked in a hospital laundry. Lori — “a trophy-winning bowler,” according to the obituary notice — gave up the job in 1996 so her sibling could launch a country music career.
“Since the age of 24, they have maintained their own residence and have traveled extensively,” the obituary notice said. Over the years, they appeared in many documentaries and talk shows, as well as in an episode of the FX medical drama “Nip/Tuck.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Lori was once engaged to be married but that her fiancé died in an automobile accident.
“When I went on dates,” Lori said, “George would bring along books to read.”
Separation was deemed risky for the Schappell twins, but Lori Schappell told The Associated Press in a 2002 interview at the twins’ apartment in a highrise seniors complex that she didn’t think such an operation was necessary in any case.
“You don’t mess with what God made, even if it means you enjoy both children for a shorter time,” she said. In the 1997 documentary, George also strongly ruled out the idea of separation, saying, “Why fix what is not broken?”
The Schappell twins’ survivors include their father and six siblings. Private services are planned, the funeral home said.