The twins with their sister Isadora Clinkenbeard-Shinn during a visit home to Sioux City, Iowa.
Evelyn Ann Veronica Dwyer and Alyeen Margaret Dwyer at six years old in 1906.
The youngest of eleven children, identical twin sisters Evelyn Ann Veronica Dwyer and Alyeen Margaret Dwyer, were born in Sioux City, Iowa, on June 1,1900 and entered the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary together in 1919. They took the religious names of Mary Aline, BVM and Mary Evelyna, BVM respectively.
As young girls, they were Sioux City neighbors of another set of identical twin sisters by the last name of Friedman. The Friedman girls grew up to be known as the famous advice columnists Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren. When the well-known duo returned to Sioux City in June of 1976 for their 40th class reunion at Central High School, they were met by the reunion committee and Sisters Aline and Evelyna, who reminisced about the days when they spent time babysitting the young Friedmans.
In 1969, Sister Mary Aline Dwyer, BVM and Sister Mary Evelyna Dwyer, BVM celebrated their Golden Jubilee at St. Ferdinand Catholic Church in Chicago.
The Sioux City Journal captured the meeting on the front page of the newspaper.
The sisters reveled in their twinship—they were members of the International Twins Association and, when attending one of the conventions in Kansas City, Mo., won a trophy for being the oldest set of twins. They appeared on a television show about twins in Los Angeles and were featured in an article in People magazine. They were written about in the Des Moines Register and in issues of the Sioux City Journal as they celebrated birthdays and jubilees.
After years of being apart while teaching in various locations, they were reunited in 1947. They taught together at schools throughout Chicago and took delight in confusing the students as to which sister was which.
They retired to Sioux City in 1969 before coming back to Mount Carmel in 1980.
—Kathy Day, Archives Assistant
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