Conjoined Twins 1950s

A look at the 87 births and separation surgeries (59 sets of girls, 21 sets of boys, 6 unknown gender and 1 supposed male/female set) we saw reported during the decade of the 1950s. Four sets of twins were born as part of triplets and one as part of quadruplets. Cases are shown in chronological order:

Two sets of conjoined twins are reported in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, in January of 1950. The first, craniopagus twins, are born to an Indian woman and survive only a short while. The others are born to a Native woman and are joined at the waist with three legs.

Masha and Dasha

Ischiopagus tripus twin girls, Masha and Dasha Krivoshyapova, are born in the Soviet Union on January 4, 1950. The sisters' mother is told that her daughters died at birth, but instead they are spirited away to a Soviet hospital for a childhood of constant experimentation. When the twins are about 16 years old, their tripus limb (the third, non-functional leg they share) is surgically amputated, without their consent. As adults they move into a Moscow home for the disabled, where they live alone in a modest apartment. Both sisters suffer from health problems, brought on by Dasha's alcoholism. They publicly decline to be separated, however, and state that even if they had not been born conjoined, they would probably still live together. On April 17, 2003, Dasha dies of a heart attack and Masha is administered a sleeping pill. Seventeen hours later she, too, expires. The 53-year-old sisters had been the oldest living conjoined twins in the world since 1993.

Craniopagus twins Kathleen Rose and Lexie Irene Smith are born to Mr. and Mrs. Erskine Smith of Wynyard Town, Tasmania on March 4, 1950. Mr. Smith says that he would rather see the twins, who are joined vertically head-to-head, "die at birth than grow up as they are." They are taken to Sydney for evaluation, where showmen offer the parents large sums of money to exhibit the girls. Both twins pass away on January 5, 1951.

Trinidad's first recorded set of conjoined twins, Rita and Greta Lovell, are born to Mrs. Rita Lovell, 24, at Port of Spain on March 6, 1950. The sisters, conjoined at the chest and heart, survive for just ten days, while Mrs. Lovell passes away from complications from her cesarean section six days later.

Dicephalus tetrabrachius twin boys are born to an unnamed Italian-American mother at Brooklyn Hospital, New York in April of 1950. The boys are reported as doing well in a May 10 update.

Rare, non-viable cephalopagus twins are born to the Gervais family of Quebec on March 1, 1951. The female twins both die at birth.

Stillborn conjoined girls are born to the indigenous Samaroo family of British Guyana on July 14, 1950. According to tradition, the girls are delivered in a remote cave and news of the unusual birth does not reach the nearest village for several days.

Dicephalus tetrabrachius twin boys are born prematurely to a 19-year-old African American mother, Mrs. Donald Simmons, at Youngstown Southside Hospital, Youngstown, Ohio on December 1, 1950. The brothers are given a poor prognosis by attending physician Dr. B. B. Burrowes and both pass away on December 3.

Conjoined twin girls are born to the Honan family of Missouri on April 30, 1951. The sisters survive about an hour.

Thoracopagus twin girls, joined at the heart, are born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Litchfield of Torrington, Connecticut on June 1, 1951, and survive for eight days.

Wikipedia has an entry on German conjoined twins, Lotti and Rosemarie Knaak, who apparently were born as craniopagus twins in Hamburg, Germany in 1951. According to this entry, their father learned of the separation of the Brodie Twins and tried to have the same type of surgery performed on his daughters. The surgery was performed in 1957 and unsuccessful with Lotti succumbing during the operation.

Conjoined daughters are born to Mrs. Jean-Marie Fortin of Chicoutimi, Quebec on January 10, 1952. The sisters both die at birth.

Another less successful separation of craniopagus conjoined twins joined at the head were the Brodie Twins, who were separated in 1952. One twin, Roger Lee, remained in a coma after surgery and died January 22, 1952, while the other brother Rodney Dee survived the operation, never regained the ability to swallow and choked to death on May 28, 1963.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born at Memorial Hospital in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on January 27, 1952, but both die soon after birth.

The world's oldest surviving conjoined twins, Ronald Lee and Donald Lee Galyon are born on October 28, 1952 in Dayton, Ohio. Long-time sideshow performers, they are now retired from show business but still occasionally appear on TV. They were profiled on the Jerry Springer Show on April 21, 1997 and were also interviewed on the 1998 Discovery Channel documentary, 'Joined at Birth'.

Conjoined twin boys, attached "at the shoulders and throat", are born in Naples, Italy, to an unnamed 24-year-old mother on November 18, 1952. Doctors proclaim that they cannot be separated and they survive only a few hours.

Xiphopagus twin girls named Nancy and Ellen are born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 14, 1952, to an unidentified 24-year-old mother. The twins are determined to share no vital organs and are successfully separated at the age of three days at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

While Nancy and Ellen are recovering from surgery, a second set of conjoined twins are born in Cleveland on December 19, 1952, at Mary B. Talbert Hospital. The baby girls are joined at the chest and abdomen and both die soon after birth.

Omphalopagus twin boys are born in a rural hut on Surat, India, in December of 1952. They are taken to a hospital and placed in an incubator, where they await further evaluation.

Thoracopagus twin boys Terry and Jerry Sims are born to Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Sims of Philadelphia, Mississippi, on January 16, 1953. The brothers undergo surgery on January 17 to close an omphalocele, but both pass away just two days later from respiratory failure.

Xiphopagus twin girls are born to Jessica and Edwin Stickney, a Chicago couple, at Lafayette, Indiana on February 23, 1953, and survive for just eight hours and 45 minutes.

Thoracopagus twins Frank and Edward Wyrwas are born in Inverness, Nova Scotia to 19-year-old Mrs. Max Wyrwas on May 19, 1953, but survive for just one day.

The first fully successful separation in modern times is often said to be that of Carolyn Anne and Catherine Anne Mouton. Born to the wife of Mayor Ashton Mouton of Lafayette, on July 22, 1953, the sisters are pygopagus twins. Surgery is performed on September 17. Both twins thrive after the operation; however, Catherine commits suicide in 1985.

Wariboko and Tamunotonye Davies, known as Boko and Tomo, are born in Kano, Nigeria on July 25, 1953. Joined at the abdomen, the sisters are taken to London and surgically separated by Dr. Ian Aird on December 3. Tomo dies in surgery, but Boko returns to Nigeria and today is a happily married grown woman.

Conjoined twins are born as part of a quadruplet set to Anna Totsås, 19, of Nordli, Norway on September 5, 1953. The twins both die at birth but the other two babies thrive.

Possibly the first conjoined twins born in Colorado, thoracopagus twin girls, are born to Mr. and Mrs. T. K. Bower at Lowry Air Force Base. The sisters are premature and both die immediately after their birth at Fitzsimons Hospital.

Another early success story is that of Tsjitske and Folke de Vries, Dutch sisters born joined at the abdomen on November 8, 1953 in Molenend, Friesland to Blijke and Sybe de Vries. They undergo separation on June 11, 1954 and grow up like any other twin girls.

A third set of craniopagus twins is mentioned by the press in the early 1950s: John L. and John Edward Flowers, born in August of 1953 to a poor African-American couple, Maybelle and Roosevelt Flowers, of Kilmichael, Mississippi. Because of the brothers' race and socio-economic status, however, they do not garner the same attention as the Brodie and Andrews twins. The boys are taken to a Memphis, Tenn., hospital on December 30 after the sudden death of John Edward, but John L. also succumbs during an emergency operation to separate him from his brother.

X-ray of the Hartley Twins

Daniel Kaye and Donald Ray Hartley (Life Magazine, 1953)

A pair of four-armed dicephalus twins are born near Petersburg, Indiana in the United States on December 12, 1953 with the birth of twins Danny Kaye and Donald Ray Hartley. Despite cardiac problems with the twins, they were improving and allowed to go home with their parents. A Life Magazine article profiled the family, but tragically the twins died April 24, 1954, due to acute cardiac dilation. As you can see in the pictures below, the twins had two spines united to a single pelvis.

Craniopagus twin girls are born in Dandagamuwa Village, Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) on December 22, 1953. One sister dies on December 23 and doctors elect not to separate them because of the poor health of the survivor.

Xiphopagus twin girls, Wandee and Sriwan are born in Thailand in 1954 and undergo separation at the Women's Hospital (now Rajavithi Hospital) in Bangkok. The operation is initially hailed as a success and generates much publicity for the hospital, but one sister ultimately succumbs.

Dicephalus twin boys, Michael and Wendelin, are born in Germany in February of 1954 and survive until July of 1954.

Jamaica's first set of conjoined twins, girls joined at the chest, are born on February 5, 1954, at Jubilee Maternity Hospital in Kingston but both die soon after birth.

In Greenock, Scotland, thoracopagus twin girls are born to Mary Mount, 24, on March 20, 1954. Both sisters die within 24 hours of birth.

Craniopagus twins Janet and Janice Savage are born to Betty and James Savage of Montreal on March 26, 1954, along with a non-conjoined triplet, Mary Anne. Separation is attempted after one twin succumbs on April 16, but the other twin dies as well.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born at Finkenau Medical Center in Hamburg, Germany on March 31, 1954, and given a good chance of survival.

Iceland's first recorded set of conjoined twins, attached at the chest and sharing a heart, are born on April 14, 1954 on Westmann's Isle, but both die soon after birth.

Thoracopagus twin boys are born to the Crawford family of Illinois on April 21, 1954, but only survive for about ten minutes.

Craniopagus twins Claudette and Constance Miller are born to Elizabeth and Louis Miller of Tennessee on May 6, 1954. The girls are connected so that one sister's forehead is attached to the top of the other's head. Their mother is disturbed by the news and refuses to see her daughters until they are separated. Constance is the favored survivor and is given the twins' shared sagittal vein when the twins are separated on October 11, but she dies of shock soon after the surgery.

Thoracopagus twin boys, along with a non-conjoined triplet brother, are born to Yvonne and Vlateur Mousseau of St. Boniface, Manitoba on June 9, 1954. It is determined that the joined boys cannot be separated and both pass away four days later, but presumably the third boy survives.

Conjoined twins with the surname Kucukburc are born to a Turkish woman in the back of a bus on June 27, 1954, along with a triplet. Some reports mistakenly state that all three babies are conjoined, but in fact only the ischiopagus or parapagus twin girls are joined, sharing three legs, with their triplet brother having been born separately.

Omphalopagus twin boys are born to Mrs. Julia Seitz, 25, of Cedarhurst, New York on July 10, 1954. One twin is grossly underdeveloped and an emergency separation surgery is performed to save the healthier boy, but he passes away about eight hours after the operation.

Connie and Bonnie Johnson are born to Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Johnson of Pine Bluff, Arkansas on July 26, 1954. Born joined at the chest and sharing a heart, the sisters die during separation surgery at University Hospital in Little Rock on October 7.

Thoracopagus twin sisters Margit and Christel are born in East Germany in August of 1954. They undergo separation on July 27, 1955, but both die.

Penney Dee and Peggy Lee Noyce are born to Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Noyce of Salt Lake City, Utah on August 9, 1954. The thoracopagus twins both pass away from an illness on August 21.

Xiphopagus twin sisters with a single liver are born in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 8, 1954. They undergo separation on November 4 but both pass away.

In the wake of the Brodie separation, another pair of craniopagus twins from Chicago, Deborah Marie and Christine Mary Andrews, prepare to be separated. Born on October 1, 1954, to Norene and Wilfred Andrews, Deborah and Christine are joined at the top of the head, facing in opposite directions. Separation surgery takes place on April 21, 1955. Both initially survive, although the long-term outcome is unknown.

Another ambitious surgery was attempted in France on October 6, 1954 on Michele and Nadège Aubrun, newborn omphalopagus twin girls. The operation sadly failed as one twin died immediately after surgery and the other two years later of complications.

Omphalopagus twin girls are born to Mr. and Mrs. Romuald Berger of St. Eugene de Ladriere, Quebec on October 19, 1954. An emergency operation is performed to separate the twins after one dies on November 28, but sadly the other sister also succumbs.

Stillborn thoracopagus twin girls with only one heart are born to the Franklin family of Michigan on January 22, 1955.

Craniopagus twins Margaret and Joan Gray are born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England on January 30, 1955. Separation is attempted at the University College Hospital in London in February, but both girls die.

Dr. Rowena Spencer, who has become one of the 20th century's foremost experts on conjoined twins, makes history by separating newborn ischiopagus twins in 1955. Eighteen-hour-old Linda Duckworth is separated from her deceased sister in an emergency operation. Linda, who requires an artifical leg to move around, is now married.

One of the earliest 20th century examples of a successful separation of conjoined twins is performed on March 29, 1955 as Dr. Dragstedt at the University of Chicago performs surgery on Prisna and Napit Atkinson, who were born in Thailand in May, 1953. We heard from the Atkinson Twins' niece, who reported to us in an email that her aunts are successful and doing well and that both are married and live in the United States.

Thoracopagus twin girls are born to Nona and Richard Herring at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit, Michigan on May 15, 1955, and both pass away from respiratory difficulties two days later.

Lillian and Linda Matthews are born conjoined at the abdomen in Mississippi on September 15, 1955, and undergo successful separation in October.

Thoracopagus twin sisters with one heart are born in Wisconsin on October 23, 1955, but survive just two days.

Conjoined twins are born to the Hall family of California in January of 1956. The girls, born joined at the chest, die at birth.

Thoracopagus twin girls with one heart are born to the Marcotte family of New Hampshire on January 13, 1956. The sisters remarkably survive until December 10.

The first successful separation of craniopagus conjoined twins took place in Maryland in 1956. Teresa Kay and Virginia Kate Bunton were born in Mountain City, Tennessee on August 9, 1956, born joined at the forehead by a small section of skull. Both girls survive without cognitive impairment, although Ginny suffers from epilepsy.

Shirley Ann and Shelley Ann Neubauer are born in North Dakota on April 25, 1956. Conjoined at the heart, they survive only three days.

Mrs. Barrios of Cuba gives birth to conjoined twin daughters on May 9, 1956.

Gary Neil and Lary Dale Hutchens are born in California on July 2, 1956 to Floyd and LaVerne Hutchens. The pygopagus twin boys are successfully separated on July 19 and go on to lead happy, active lives. They are profiled in the February 19, 1957, issue of Life magazine.

Laura Lee and Nancy Diane Currier are born to Diane and Raymond Currier of Somis, California on October 22, 1956. They are thoracopagus twins, sharing a single heart, and both die during separation surgery on November 2.

Conjoined sisters Juraci and Nadir Climério de Oliverra are born in Brazil to a single mother, Maria Sanchez, on June 2, 1957. They are dicephalus tetrabrachius twins who share just one intestinal and renal system. Their frightened mother leaves them at the Climério de Oliverra maternity hospital in Salvador, where they are adopted by Dr. Adeo Dar and given an education. Despite having only one pair of legs, the sisters can walk with ease. On April 3, 1974, they pass away from acute pulmonary edema.

An extremely rare case of conjoined male-female twins is born in 1957 as reported in the 1988 book Twinning and Twins. It is suspected that pseudohermaphroditism, a condition where external genitals resemble that of the opposite sex, exists in one of the twins.

Conjoined twin girls born to the Vega family of Chile undergo separation in February of 1957.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia performs its first separation on October 5, 1957, separating week-old pygopagus twins Pamela and Patricia Schatz, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. John Schatz of Carle Place, Long Island. One of the twins, Pamela, dies at age 9 following open-heart surgery; the other, Patricia, survives the separation and is now married.

Craniopagus twins, Terry and Larry Powell, are born to Dorothy and Jack Powell of Hawthorne, California in March of 1957. They are united by a three-inch area of skull and tests reveal that they share major circulation. Sadly, both die during a separation attempt on May 15 after about five hours in surgery.

Omphalopagus twins John Nelson and James Edward Freeman (Johnny and Jimmy) are born to Mr. and Mrs. William Freeman of Youngstown, Ohio on April 27, 1956. The boys share a liver but have separate hearts and are successfully separated at North Side Hospital in Youngstown. The operation is funded by the Ohio Crippled Children's Service Society.

Saskatchewan's first conjoined twins, omphalopagus sisters Beverly Ann and Barbara Lee Zaharik, are born to Pauline and Vassil Zaharik of Regina on July 12, 1957, but survive for just four days.

Conjoined boys with the surname Gherardi are born in Italy on August 12, 1957. They are separated immediately after birth.

Guadalupe and Raquel Estrada are born to a Lena Estrada of Donna, Texas, wife of an itinerant laborer from Mexico, on October 19, 1957. The sisters are conjoined at the abdomen and are slated to be separated in nearby Wellington, Texas, by Dr. Dale Watkins.

A second set of Texas conjoined twins, thoracopagus twin girls said to share a single torso but with separate limbs and heads, are born November 28, 1957, in Dallas to the wife of a physician. The girls are given little chance for survival.

In November 4, 1957, thoracopagus twin girls are born to Mr. and Mrs. Houston Fontenot of Lake Charles, Louisiana, but survive for just one day.

Craniopagus twins Jeremy and Timothy Thackeray, along with a non-conjoined triplet brother, Peter Martin, are born to Kathleen and Reginald Thackeray of London on May 2, 1958. The boys have separate brains and doctors are optimistic that they can separate them, but Timothy dies immediately following separation surgery on March 23, 1959, while Jeremy succumbs in November of 1959.

A mother in Trinidad gives birth to the island nation's second recorded set of conjoined twins in December of 1958. The twins are "completely undeveloped", apparently consisting of one well-formed baby and one parasitic twin. They both pass away three or four days after birth.

Four sets of conjoined twins are born in England in the year 1959 including one craniopagus pair, one of whom is stillborn and the other of whom dies after an operation to separate him or her from the deceased twin. Another pair, born April 17, 1959, are pygopagus twin boys in Liverpool who survive for just two days.

Thoracopagus twin sisters Patricia Michele and Lisa Mary Ditonti are born to Mr. and Mrs. James Ditonti, parents of four, in Poughkeepsie, New York, on May 22, 1959. The sisters share a heart and survive for only nine days.

Pia and Bettina Hief are about a month old when they are surgically separated on June 2, 1959. Sadly, neither of the German-born thoracopagus twin sisters survives the operation.

Another successful separation is performed in the state of Oregon as Denett Linn and Jeanett Kim Stubblefield from Parma, Idaho (born June 29, 1959) are separated at Doernbecher Hospital in Portland on October 18, 1959. The two girls were born joined at the abdomen and chest. Tragically, Jeanett dies of pneumonia six months after the surgery.

Stillborn thoracopagus twin girls are born to Mr. and Mrs. Statuel Harris at Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas on August 30, 1959. Mrs. Harris, 40, is a mother of eight.

Thoracopagus twin girls sharing a heart and liver are born in Kano, Nigeria in September of 1959 and survive for one month.

Mary Helen and Marie Ellen Schultz are born to Marilyn and Elvin Schultz of Gary, Indiana on September 19, 1959, conjoined at the chest. During an operation to separate them on September 25, at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, it is discovered that the girls share only a single deformed heart. The surgical team chooses to sacrifice Mary and give the heart to larger, sturdier Marie, but sadly she, too, dies about five hours after the surgery is completed.

Omphalopagus twin girls are born to the Walker family of Indiana on December 16, 1959. One sister dies at birth.

[Back to Chronological Timeline of Conjoined Twins Timeline]