Mother, daughter reunite after 82 years apart

After 82 years, 96-year-old Lena Pierce got to meet her first-born Betty Morrell, who is 82.

Pierce was just 14 years old when she gave birth to her daughter at a hospital in Utica, New York, according to WBNG. She named her Eva May.

Pierce cared for Eva May for six months before the state said Pierce was too young to be a mother. Her daughter was taken away.

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 Upon adoption, Eva May was given the name Betty Morrell. She grew up in Long Island as an only child. Her adoptive parents passed away when she was just 21. At that time, Morrell made it her mission to find her birth mother.

Fifty years after starting that search, the two finally had an emotional reunion in New York last month.

"An aunt of mine had one day slipped and said my name was 'Eva'," she said. "And I said 'oh.' And she said, 'You know you were born up in Utica?'"

With help from Morrell's granddaughter, she was also able to search for further clues through ancestry.com. And, finally, she was able to find Millie, one of Pierce's daughters, linking mother and daughter once again.

"I'm not alone anymore," Morrell said. "I have my mother, and I have sisters and brothers. It's surreal, but so wonderful to be together again after all this time."