PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — George and Lori Schappell, who were the world’s oldest conjoined twins, died April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, according to their obituary.
Born September 18, 1961 in West Reading, Pennsylvania, the twins were 62 years and 202 days old, nine years older than the second oldest pair of conjoined twins born female on record, according to the Guinness Book of World Records . .
Lori and George were joined at the head and had separate bodies, making them craniopagus twins. Guinness reported that they had partially fused shared skulls and blood vessels as well as 30% of their brains. While Lori could walk, George suffered from spina bifida and got around with the use of a rolling stool that Lori pushed and steered.
George came out as transgender in 2007.
Before transitioning, George at one point used the name Reba as a tribute to country artist Reba McEntire.
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Graduates of the Hiram G. Andrews Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Lori and George previously worked at Reading Hospital.
The twins had lived alone since they were 24, their obituary said.
In 1997, the two told filmmaker Antony Thomas how they kept separate lives and let each other pursue their own interests. The video is available on the True Lives YouTube channel and shows the twins letting Thomas into their apartment.
Like his former namesake Reba, George was a country singer himself. When he needed time to rehearse, the twins would go to George’s room and Lori would bring him peace and quiet.
“This is his room, I’m physically here, but that’s it. This is his place,” Lori says in the video.
“I think of myself here as if I’m at a concert and yeah, she can’t interrupt me or talk to me while I’m playing,” George says in the documentary.
“Just because we can’t get up and move away from each other doesn’t mean we can’t be isolated from others or ourselves,” adds Lori. “Siamese people can have very private lives.”
“If you love the person you’re with and respect them, you’re going to give them the privacy and compromise in situations that you would want them to give you,” George added.
Lori had her own interests and loved bowling – she won several trophies, according to her obituary.
Guinness said the twins had their own room in their apartment and would alternate the nights they spent in each.
Lori and George were also guests on the long-running Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, which aired on Labor Day.
They have also appeared on several television talk shows and documentaries.
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