HONOLULU (KHON2) — This is a story of four sisters and an island that is known as the Pacific’s Gathering Place.
KHON2.com was invited to be a part of this incredible story of triumph, love and family, even when those connections have yet to be made.
The sisters of our story were born after World War II had ravaged Europe and set their parents on separate journeys to countries that are a world apart.
From Austria, one sister landed in Akron, Ohio while the other three sisters landed in Brisbane, Australia.
Olga, our sister from Ohio, moved there from Austria when she was nine years old with her mother. She knew she had a father, but she had never met him. Her mother didn’t talk about him, and it wasn’t until much later in Olga’s life that she was able to meet him.
“At 39 is when I tell everybody that’s when I started riding roller coasters and that’s when I met my dad,” said Olga. “I once met him when he came through, but it was kind of awkward.”
Something you have to remember in this story is that the four sisters’ parents were from a different time. Blended families were not a thing, and extended families were allotted to cousins, aunts and uncles. Their parents did not have the sort of cultural society at that time to be able to embrace their choices and the results of those choices.
Olga explained that her husband, who has since passed, was the person who had initially located her father in Australia. This was back in the early 1980s when there was no internet or online family search communities.
Olga’s husband was able to get a phone number for her father which led Olga to calling him for the first time. When Olga called, she had no idea that the first person to whom she spoke was her sister Erika. But we’ll get to that part of the story in a bit.
Olga’s father was married, but they had a trip planned to the U.S.; so, a time was set for Olga to meet him.
When he arrived, he had an entourage, which made an intimate meeting a bit more difficult. There was also a language barrier, according, to Olga’s three sisters; but again, we’ll get to that in a bit.
So, Olga met her father and his wife once; and that was it. Or so Olga thought…
On the other side of the planet in Australia, Olga’s three sisters began their journey of discovering they had a fourth sister not long before Olga’s husband located their father.
The eldest of the three Australian sisters, Marg, was the first to discover that she had a sister in the U.S.
Marg found out when she was around the age of 20 that her father had another daughter somewhere in the world when she was visiting a dear family friend.
“I used to spend holidays with Melania, and we were just having a cup of tea,” said Marg. “We’re sitting there having a cup of tea chatting; and then, she says, with a sigh ‘what is it like having another sister?’ And I went, ‘what?’ I said, ‘what sister?’”
The family friend who was Ukranian and swore a bit once she realized she’d spilled the tea.
“She told me the story, and she said, ‘look, you can’t mention anything because it’s not my story to tell’,” remembered Marg. “I was about 20 and thought it would come up in conversation with my dad, but it never came up.”
So, Marg never mentioned it again…
The next sister to discover Olga’s existence was Erika.
Erika is the middle of the three Australian sisters, and she also found out when she was 20 years old.
“I was about 20. I just got married, and I popped in to see mum one morning on the way to work,” remembered Erika. “The phone rang. So, I picked it up; and this woman on the other side of the line said, ‘can I speak to Anton Sousa?’ And I said, ‘well, who’s calling?’ And she said, ‘it’s his daughter in America’. And I had to stop and think. Then, mum came to the phone; and she asked, ‘who is it?’ I said, ‘oh, someone’s saying it’s dad’s daughter in America’, and mum quickly grabbed the phone off me.”
Erika’s mother never spoke of this again. So, neither did Erika…
Finally, the youngest of the three sisters, Chris, learned about Olga when she, her mother and her aunt were looking at Chris’s wedding photos from 1985. Olga had met her father one year after that in 1986.
“I got married in 1985,” remembered Chris. “My auntie from Austria, she came out ; and we were looking at wedding photos on the table and reminiscing. I saw a photo of a young boy who would have been about 10; and I said to mum, ‘who’s that?’ And she said, oh, don’t worry about it.”
But her auntie believed that Chris had a right to know about Olga. So, she told her the story.
“That’s how I found out,” said Chris. “Mum then told me that dad has another daughter and she told me that they had gone to meet her.”
Of course, Chris, unlike Erika and Marg, couldn’t keep the secret. She immediately went to her two sisters to tell them they had a fourth sister. So, on that day, they made a pact to connect with Olga once their parents had passed on.
Through those years, Olga thought she had heard the last of her father’s side of the family. The singular awkward meeting still echoed in her memories.
But in 2023, her daughter Andrea made a life-changing discovery.
Around 2013, Marg’s, Erika’s and Chris’s dad passed away; and in 2022, their mother passed away.
“So, a year after dad passed, we just decided to find Olga on Facebook, which we did the three of us together,” said Chris. “We knew her surname, and we reached out to her on messenger.”
But there was no response. Undeterred, the three sisters, who have never fought a day in their lives, were on a mission to find their missing fourth sister.
They moved on to locating Olga’s son, Tony. But still no response.
This is when they discovered Olga’s daughter, Andrea. They messaged with their story and their desire to connect with Olga, and she immediately responded.
“I felt like this story was newsworthy,” said Andrea. “I feel like this is something that needs to be happening every day. With so much turmoil in the world right now and so much negativity around social media, this is a story about good things can happening.”
Everyone was able to meet via zoom a couple of times, but there was a need to be in person, a need to connect, to hug their sisters.
Chris said that within a very short period of time, Andrea had planned a trip for everyone to Honolulu. It’s the middle spot between Akron, Ohio and Brisbane, Australia. So, as the Gathering Place of the Pacific, all four sisters trekked to Waikiki.
“I’m excited; I’m overwhelmed because I’ve never been to Hawaiʻi, never met them,” said Olga before her arrival in Honolulu. “I’ll be 77 this year and now to meet my sisters, it’s all just so unreal.”
Their host was Hale Koa Hotel.
“We are really excited about this story of family finding and connecting,” said Kelley Hupp who is the Assistant General Manager for Hale Koa Hotel. “When Dr. [Andrea] Williams contacted us to let us know about it, we just knew this was going to be very special.”
Olga and Andrea were the first to arrive. Olga was nervous but had a tremendous smile. Andrea, as always, was prepared with gifts.
After a few minutes, Marg, Erika and Chris could be heard walking toward Olga and Andrea.
The three sisters who had dreamt of reuniting with their long-lost sister for nearly 40 years had finally fulfilled their pact. There were many tears and much laughter, and the four sisters became inseparable as they all sat on a sofa to bond.
“This is amazing,” exclaimed Olga. “First of all to be in Hawaiʻi and these three — I mean, I’ll cry again.”
“They’re tears of joy,” said Marg. “So, we can shed those.” Both and Erika and Chris enthusiastically supported Marg’s assessment.
“I told them that I didn’t get to know my dad, but I’ll now be able to meet him through them,” said Olga.
“I think our father would have been at a loss to cope with something like this,” said Marg. “He wasn’t that kind of person. So, we’re doing the task for him.”
“We’re going to tell you all we can about him,” Chris said to Olga as Erika, teary eyed, dug around her bag for more tissues.
Needless to say, the four sisters were intensely happy to be in each other’s arms for the very first time in their lives.
As KHON2.com left the sisters to bond as a family; they could be heard comparing physical markers that they all shared with their father. And the story of the four sisters continues….