When Ruby Minor told her sisters she was going to sell her house several years ago and move to assisted living, they supported her and didn’t think much of it.
It wasn’t until this year that Minor finally sold her house, and both of her sisters had already moved into Bayberry Retirement Inn themselves.
On May 1, Minor moved to the Inn to be with her twin and younger sister.
Cathy Gambrell, administrator of the retirement home, said they’ve never had three sisters living at the home at one time.
“Even in my past time of being a director, I’ve never had that,” Gambrell said. “We’ve had family members, but never three siblings.”
But since Minor and her sisters had been nearly inseparable throughout the years, living together was an easy decision.
Ruth Satterfield, Minor’s 91-year-old twin, recalls that most every major life event each sibling had, the others were close behind.
Satterfield and her younger sister, Dot Boone, both married at 19, just under two years apart, and shortly after, Minor married her husband.
“We did most everything together,” Satterfield said. “Like jump rope, we played games back then like hide and seek.”
Satterfield’s husband was her grade school sweetheart, Boone met her second husband while at the laundromat and Minor met her husband through Satterfield.
All three had husbands in the military, and each of them had a few children, with Satterfield having twins.
“(We) didn’t know it until they came, and my husband was in service, we didn’t know where he was located,” Satterfield said. “We sent him a telegram, and when he got the telegram, he just fainted.”
Although Satterfield and Minor are twins, the twin gene did not come from Satterfield, but instead from her husband’s relatives, who were twins.
Minor didn’t have twins, but she married a twin — causing the family to have double sets of children laced throughout the family tree.
Over the years the sisters remained close, even after Boone moved out of the state for a few years.
“We kept in touch with conference calls,” Boone said. “And before we came in here, we’d talk together and make our plans for the afternoon.”
When Satterfield’s and Minor’s husbands died in 2000, Boone talked to them nearly every day, and when Boone’s husband died in 2003, the sisters were there for her.
For the sisters, they’ve always had someone to share intimate moments with.
“It’s wonderful, and sharing with other members of the family too,” Minor said.
Contact staff writer Ariel Gilreath at 864-943-5644.
