Sisters overcome health issues, reunite after six years

theGrio REPORT - Lilly Lewis and Pearline Johnson were once inseparable sisters, living for decades just one block away from each other.

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

Sisters Lilly Lewis and Pearline Johnson were once inseparable, living for decades just one block away from each other.

But as they got older, their health became an obstacle to visiting each other. They wentand they went six years without seeing one another.

Until last week.

Watch the emotional moment between the two sisters below:

Lilly and Pearline grew up in a household of eleven children, living everywhere from Milwaukee to Mississippi. Their family became even larger as many of the siblings had children of their own, though Pearline never had children and therefore was closest with her nephew, Glenn Wilder.

Wilder visits Pearline daily and began to notice signs of dementia when Pearline could not remember which of her siblings was still around. “She’s been asking more about those siblings that have passed on and I started writing down the names for her a couple months ago about who’s alive and who’s dead and the sister we’re going to visit are the only two left,” Wilder said.

Finally, the 91-year-old Pearline decided she wanted to visit her sister, who had trouble talking because of a breathing tube and a stroke.

“They used to go grocery shopping every Saturday and go to church every Sunday together. They did everything together,” Lilly’s daughter Bernadette said of her mother and aunt.

The affection between the two sisters was abundantly clear, with Pearline joking, “I’m better looking!”

It is unlikely that Lilly will get to see her big sister again, and she left Pearline with the parting words, “I love you” and “take care of me.”

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