Identical, For 80 Years And Counting
Don't let your eyes fool you. Doris McAusland, an 80-year-old Wal-Mart greeter from Madison, Wisc., and Dora Bennett, an 80-year-old dining room attendant at Culver's restaurant, are not one in the same. Although they are about as akin as they come.
"We've always been real close," both women told CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman in unison.
Dora and Doris are identical twins.
"We said that together, didn't we?" Dora asked. "We do that a lot."
Born in 1927, they grew up sharing everything from the same dolls to the same taste buds.
Anchovies? "No," both twins say in unison.
Duck? "Mother used to fix it."
Kidney beans? "Only in chili."
They met their husbands at the same church group - and got married on the same day.
They each had one son, retired from the same cafeteria job, and even had their hysterectomies together. And you thought synchronized swimming was impressive.
But what may be the most remarkable of all is the fact that in the last 80 years, they say no one has ever, ever seen them in separate outfits.
"Only once I think, we had different shoes on," Dora said.
Oh, scandal!
"Quite a few of our friends teased us," she explained. "They said, 'oh, look, the twins are different!'"
But that was long ago. And there have been no slip-ups since.
Their glasses even look alike.
"Yeah, they are," the twins said. "But our rings aren't alike."
But they say the greatest thing about having someone so like you for so long isn't just being able to finish each other's sentences. It's having a safe harbor for your embarrassing secrets.
Doris and Dora decided long ago that becoming an individual wasn't nearly as important as staying inseparable. Really, this whole ritual of mirroring one another is just an excuse for keeping close.
You can't look alike if you don't get your hair done together. Can't coordinate outfits if you don't talk every day.
Which is why you never will see them dressing differently.
It's not going to stop anytime soon?
"Not until the Lord takes us," the twins said in unison.
