T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY Sisters Shirley Warnell, sitting in blue jacket, and Connie Watson, sitting in pink jacket, reunited for the first time in three years on Thursday thanks to Iowa River Hospice’s “Making Dreams Come True” program. Watson lives in Marshalltown, while Warnell, a former Marshalltown resident, now lives at Westbrook Acres in Gladbrook.

Sisters Shirley Warnell and Connie Watson talk on the phone almost every day, but due to their health and inability to make travel arrangements, especially since Warnell moved from Marshalltown to Westbrook Acres in Gladbrook, the siblings — both in their 80s — hadn’t seen each other in almost three years since Christmas of 2020.

That changed on Thursday morning thanks to Iowa River Hospice’s “Making Dreams Come True” initiative, with transportation arranged and Fire Marshal Josh Warnell on hand to ensure that Shirley Warnell could get into Watson’s house on West Linn Street, a donated meal from Kentucky Fried Chicken and a pie prepared by a volunteer.

With Connie’s son and daughter-in-law Mike and Pam Watson and IRH staff members on hand, it was a joyous occasion, and the sisters, both of whom are receiving hospice services from Iowa River, couldn’t stop smiling.

“This is exciting. We hear so many stories from both of them,” IRH’s Amanda McDowell said.

The sisters, along with brothers Ed and Chuck Hughes and sister Marjorie McBroom, grew up near Conrad and love to go back and tell stories from those days running around outside, causing trouble and digging deep holes. Jen Ford, a social worker at IRH, said it took a little convincing to get them together this time.

“I had been working on both of them for a couple weeks now and said ‘Don’t you want to see your sister?’ ‘Well yeah, but I don’t think we can do it,’ and I said ‘Oh, I bet we could. What do you think about that?’ And I finally got them both to a place where they said ‘Yeah, I think I’d wanna see her,'” Ford said.

From there, she arranged Josh Warnell’s services and a ride through PeopleRides, and the siblings were reunited at last. They didn’t have much of an itinerary for the rest of the day, but as Shirley indicated, they can sit and talk for hours and be content.

“We’ve got lots of good stories and some bad ones,” Watson said.

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Contact Robert Maharry

at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or

rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.