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Reunited Sisters Search For Answers After Birth Mother Dies

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There is a sad twist in the tale of two sisters abandoned at birth some 50 years ago, and their current quest for answers.

WCCO first brought you the remarkable story last year.

Visitors found Tammy Makram in a cardboard box left outside a St. Paul hospital on Christmas Eve in 1961.

Four years later, someone spotted Liz Kellner -- just a few days old -- in an apartment laundry room in Minneapolis.

The sisters only recently found each other. As WCCO found, the person they would been hoping to connect the dots for so long is no longer here to help.

"We like to see how many things we can pack into a couple of days," Kellner said.

The Thanksgiving trip had been in the works for months. Makram left southwest Minnesota to meet her sister, Kellner, in New Mexico.

After spending the holiday there, they planned to head to Tucson to visit their birth parents.

"On Thursday, while we were with our families, we got the call that she had passed," Kellner said.

Tammy Makram, Liz Kellner And Their Birth Mother]
Tammy Makram, Liz Kellner and their birth mother (credit: CBS)

At the age of 88, their birth mother took a nap and never woke up. The sisters had only recently found her and each other. They had met just twice before.

"Even though everything was kind of out there, she really didn't like to have conversations about it," Kellner said.

They discovered two more siblings their mom gave up for adoption.

"It's hard when you only have so much time with someone to really push for those things. You don't want to damage what little relationship you have," Makram said.

"Then we would kind of work in, you know, 'Was there another child? Could there have been?' We certainly haven't received a definite no," Kellner said.

As it turns out, another baby, a boy, had been left in a box at the same hospital as Makram four years before her in 1957. The sisters have not been able to find out who he is.

"It just seems like the possibilities of that being a sibling are very likely," Makram said.

Still piecing together a family mystery, while grieving a part of their lives they only recently realized they had.

"The sadness for me is sadness for her because she went so many years without the children that she had," Makram said.

The sisters have been hearing from several family members in the last few days. They have found they are now more comfortable confronting the past, so they are hoping someone will help fill in some blanks.

They still do not even know their birth dates.

They asked that we do not use their birth parents in our report, as some still are not comfortable with making their story so public.

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