Mom, 100, Reunited With Daughter After 77 Years

A woman forced to give her month-old baby daughter up for adoption in 1929 after a rape the year earlier was reunited with her 77 years later—and was astonished to learn that one of her six biological grandchildren is astronaut Mark Lee. Minka Disbrow, now 100, became pregnant after being raped in South Dakota when she was 16 and always kept a photo of her beloved infant daughter. The two were reunited after one of her daughter's children, trying to learn about the family's medical history, petitioned a South Dakota court for his mother's adoption records, reports AP.

After the pair were reunited in 2006, "it was just like we had never parted," says Disbrow, who recently decided to share her story with the press. It was "like you were with the family all your life." Her daughter was raised by a Norwegian pastor and his wife. Disbrow has spent countless hours now with her daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. "It has been such a surreal, amazing experience that I still think sometimes that I will wake up and it will just be a beautiful dream," the daughter says. (More adoption stories.)