Page 70 - Senior Link Magazine Summer 2024 - Online Magazine

Focus
Delightful
Double Vision
Edith Sims and Edna Heflin
by Ted Wilson
n the summer of 1943, August
10, to be exact, Joe and Ruby
IHatch, at the ages of 49 and 43,
were expecting their ninth child.
It was a bit scary because Ruby
was also dealing with a tumor
associated with the pregnancy.
Into the world came Edith. Thirty
minutes later, the parents were
shocked when the tumor turned
out to be Edna. The two “Eds”
were bonded in the womb for
nine months, and the bond has
never let up. Dr. McKinley Howell
had charged the Hatch’s $50 for
the delivery up front. He later
refunded $25 because they were
twins. What a surprise God had
“hatched” up!
For three days, the girls had
no middle names. The hospital
wouldn’t release them until those
names were chosen. Dad asked,
“Who’s the oldest?” “Edith.” So,
they were named Edith A and
Edna B. They get a kick out of that
story now, but as young ladies,
their middle names/letters weren’t
so funny. Edith and Edna were
Joe and Ruby’s last two children.
(At their ages, and since they
70 Lubbock Senior Link
FAMILY
had started
producing
two at a time,
Joe and Ruby
decided to quit
the “hatching”
business.)
The girls were
as close outside
the womb as
they had been
within. They
were never
separated until Edith and Edna never spent a night
seventh grade landed them in apart until Edna married. Then
different homerooms. They found Edith married, and they found
ways to be together though. For themselves further apart than ever.
instance, they worked diligently Edna worked many years at the
to make sure both homerooms Texas Tech Credit Union, until
secured the funds to attend the her retirement fifteen years ago.
end-of-school picnic together. Edith worked for many years at
They always dressed alike, even CHS Ag Chemicals in Plainview,
though it wasn’t always easy for until she retired at the age of 78,
their mom to find matching flour only a couple of years ago. Now
sacks for dress fabric. One of the both widows, after 40 years of
things the twins find notable about separation, they live in Plainview,
high school was placing second in only an alley away from each
badminton playoffs. They gave the other. When asked why they don’t
much taller, first place team a run live together, they responded, “We
for their money. love each other enough not to live
with each other.”