World’s Oldest Conjoined Twins Die at 62
World’s Oldest Conjoined Twins Die at 62
By Towncriernews
World’s Oldest Living Conjoined Twins, Lori and George Schappell, Die Aged 62.
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests, and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month aged 62.
According to obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg, he twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
The cause of death was not detailed.
‘Space-age stuff’: Conjoined twins separated with help of virtual reality in Brazil
“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 newspaper reported.
George came out as transgender in 2007. The twins, born September 18, 1961, in West Reading, Pennsylvania, 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.
Doctors separate ‘smallest-ever’ conjoined twins
“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 fiance died in an automobile accident.
“When I went on dates, George would bring along books to read,” Lori said.
‘You don’t mess with what God made’
The twins said in a 1997 documentary that they had different bathing schedules and showered one at a time.
George spoke of giving someone you love and respect “the privacy and compromise in situations that you would want them to give you”. Lori said compromise meant “you don’t get everything you want right when you want it”.
