By By MARCIA STEFFENS / Niles Daily Star
NILES – The simple act of passing a birthday list around the office led to an interesting discovery.
Pam Miller, a broker at Re/Max Modern Realty on Main Street in Niles, thought she would let all the agents know when everyone would be having a birthday.
"I was delighted to find out that another agent shared my birthday," Tina Thornton said. She had returned to work at Re/Max Modern Realty, beginning her career there in 1996.
She had no idea of the connections she would learn she had with Lynn Ferris, another agent.
"When we started chatting about it, we learned that we were born on the same date, in the same year, at the same hospital."
The two kept researching, speaking to their mothers, only to find out their mothers had actually shared the same room.
Thornton's mother had told her tale of a driving blizzard on Nov. 4, 1951.
"My parents, Leon and Dorothy (Lundberg) Williams, were heading from Buchanan on Niles-Buchanan Road, in a foot of blowing snow in a 1948 green Chevrolet. It was around 9 p.m. and only 10 degrees above zero," she said she learned.
"The young Williams family decided it was time to head to the maternity ward of Pawating Hospital (now Lakeland Community Hospital). With their three-year-old son Lynn bundled up and dozing off in the back seat, my Mom held on her swollen lap my one-year-old sister Jane. There were no such things as car seats back then. The car plowed through the incredible snowstorm to arrive at the hospital.
"The radiator started to freeze up, but Dad was able to make it to the hospital and get my Mom settled in," she added.
Since fathers weren't in the delivery room and he had two small ones to deal with, Thornton's Dad returned home to Buchanan, she explained.
"The labor did not progress as hoped, especially by my Mom, the nurses had to leave her in the delivery room to attend to another birth," she added, something her mother continually reminds her of.
It was around 6:45 a.m., Dorothy remembered and the shifts were changing. The "other birth" was that of a boy to another woman from Buchanan, Francena Ferris. She returned to the room first, then Thornton's mother joined her.
"Mrs. Ferris had not yet chosen a name for her son, and asked my Mom if she had any sons. My Mom shared that she had a son named Lynn," Thornton said.
So not only were Lynn Ferris and Tina Thornton to learn of their shared birthday, his name came from her brother.
Lynn Ferris added that he learned his mother had once dated Tina's father's brother, Darwin, before marrying Raymond Ferris. So they may have all known each other, at one time.
Tina, really Kristine, was named after her grandmother, Christine Lundberg, who came to America from Sweden around 1910. Later Tina would have another sister, Marsha.
Tina lives in Niles and is married to Van, a builder, and together they have three daughters and a son.
Lynn's wife Karla is an RN and they have six children and six grandchildren.
The two mothers of the "Re/Max twins" became friends during there time together in the hospital, back when women stayed for a week. Strangely though, the two children grew up and both attended Buchanan High School, never knowing their early history. They are also both the middle child.
"Lynn and I have developed a special bond and respect for each other. Now we call ourselves 'twins.' What a small world it truly is," Thornton said.