Lost sister found next door
In an incredible twist of fate, Hillary met the sister she never knew after Dawn moved in next door
When Hillary went searching for her birth father, she found out she was two years too late – but discovered she had a sister she didn’t know about.
“My biological father had passed away before I got a chance to meet him and that was heartbreaking,” Hillary, 31, tells Woman’s Day.
“But when I read his obituary, I found out I had a sister called Dawn Johnson. I’d always longed for a big sister for advice and guidance,” she says.
Hillary became determined to find Dawn and started what turned out to be a frustrating and fruitless six-year search.
FATE INTERVENED
But that all changed last year when her new neighbour knocked on her door and introduced herself as Dawn, from Greenwood, Wisconsin – the same US town her late father had lived in.
Hillary joked with her husband Lance about the two being sisters but never dreamed it could be true. Then one morning in August 2017, fate intervened when a package addressed to Dawn was dropped off at Hillary’s house.
Her stomach flipped when she saw Dawn’s surname was Johnson. The two had already exchanged numbers after Hillary’s five-yearold daughter Stella kept wandering to Dawn’s house. Perhaps she’d had a sense all along!
Hillary plucked up the courage to broach Dawn, 50, about her theory they might be sisters. She sent three texts, finishing with, “Who was your father?”
When Dawn texted back the name “Wayne Clouse”, Hillary jumped for joy around her living room before exchanging a hug with Dawn on the adjoining driveway. “When we found the house next door to Hillary, it was almost like something was drawing me to it, but I didn’t know what it was,” Dawn says. “I found out at 14 my stepfather wasn’t my dad, but I wasn’t aware of any siblings other than the two I grew up with.”
Dawn says she was “ecstatic, with my mouth hanging open” when Hillary explained their special relationship.
“It’s truly unbelievable to buy a house and find out that my sister – who I didn’t even know existed – was living next door,” she says.
“Our relationship is incredible, unique and wonderful,” adds Dawn. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. At this point, I literally can’t remember us not knowing each other. It’s like we were never apart.”
‘I longed for a big sister for advice and guidance’