Double the trouble — and triple the fun

This story first appeared in the Dec. 26 edition of the Kansan.

Twins,’ triplets’

lives full of

adventures

Editor’s note: The Kansan asked local twins and triplets to mail in their stories. Here are their sweet and funny stories:

Triplets have triple

the memory power

I feel fortunate to be a triplet. All three of us have very different personalities.

Brittany, the oldest, loves music, is the stylish one and is the most logical.

I, Courtney, am artistic, crafty and, as most middle children, I have become the mediator.

Cody, the baby, is the most social, loves electronics and is very relaxed.

We were never alone on that scary first day of kindergarten — we had each other.

With school, it has been helpful being a triplet because if someone forgets something, there’s always a two out of three chance one of us remembered it.

We also share a lot of the same friends, which has been a lot of fun because we are able to hang out all together.

Being a triplet has come in handy through the years because we always have had someone to play with or take our sides against our poor little brother Cole.

Together we can make the worst and hardest times more bearable, and it tends to get really funny and entertaining!

We have a bond that is unbreakable, and we will always have each other.

— Courtney Claassen,

Whitewater

Twin sisters share

pains during birth

My twin sister and I have had our share of switching places on other people.

Like in middle school, I would go to her classes and her to mine.

But the one very important and most special time for me was when I found out I was pregnant with my now 2 1/2-year-old son, J.T.

My twin sister, Cindy, knew I was pregnant before I even knew.

It started out when she was having bad heartburn. She would ask me if I was OK and, not thinking I was pregnant, I told her I was fine.

Cindy was happy to find out I was pregnant because then she knew why she was having heartburn and all day sickness.

The happiest day of my life was when my son was born, which was Cindy's worst day ever.

She had my labor pains. When the doctor broke my water, Cindy literally wet her pants as reaction to my water being broke.

I regret her not being in the birthing room with me, but I know she was there — I heard her screaming in the halls because of the contractions.

I didn't feel a thing and, without Cindy being there, I really couldn’t tell when to push and when I was having a contraction.

So for that, thank you, Cindy! She's not only my twin sister, she’s my best friend.

— Mindy Arreguin,

Newton

Blizzard can’t stop

birth of twins

On a farm near Bentley, in a blizzard, on Jan. 15, 1937, Carl and Carolyn were born to Ernest and Edith Roberts.

They moved to Wichita at age 4 and later to a farm in eastern Kansas, at age 9.

As a family, they all worked in the field. having neither electricity nor running water for the five years they lived there. They farmed with horses and learned to work at an early age.

Moving back to Bentley at age 14, to later graduate from Bentley High School, where Carolyn was football queen and Carl was a co-captain of the team. He kissed her on the cheek during the ceremony.

Both love sports. Carl is a serious golfer and lives with his wife, Connie, on the 49’er Golf Course in Tucson, Ariz. They have one daughter, four step-grandchildren and several step-great-grandchildren.

He is retired from both the Colorado and the Arizona school systems as a district superintendent.

Carolyn has raised, broke and trained horses; raises flowers; loves to cook, read and watch NASCAR and most sports.

She is married to Ron, has three children, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She’s a retired rural mail carrier.

— Carolyn Doyle,

Newton

Girl wants a sister

but gets 1 of each

When my sister was 5 years old, my mother told her she could expect to have either a brother or sister soon.

When Mieka heard that, every night when she went to bed and said her prayers she asked God to send her a baby sister on her birthday.

Her birthday came and went, but no baby.

The next day, my sister and I were born.

Her two older brothers said to her because she waited a day longer, she received two instead of one.

— Martha E. Koehn,

North Newton

Boys are twins

but still ‘unalike’

Wayne and Duane “Butch” Mosiman were born at seven months at the Bethel Deacon Hospital on April 22, 1935, to John and Marie Mosiman.

They were welcomed by one sister and five brothers.

Butch weighed 4-pounds-3-ounces, and Wayne weighed 3-pounds-14-ounces.

Wayne was in special care for a while, and Sister Marianna helped care for him because they did not think he would survive.

The twin brothers were drafted into the army in February of 1958 and stayed together the two years, except one week at Fort Hood, Texas.

They were to be sent to Germany, but since their mother, Marie, had cancer, they were able to stay at Fort Riley until their discharge in February 1960.

Wayne is a retired butcher and meat cutter. He and his wife, Ilo, have been married 48 years and live on a farm near Valley Center. He enjoys cattle, gardening, flowers and helping others.

Butch and his wife, Glenda, are semi-retired farmers.

The men went to the Kansas Twins convention and won the honors for the most unalike in all age areas.

— Glenda Mosiman,

Benton

Five sets of twins

born in one family

My identical twin sister, Joann (Krehbiel) Wedel, and I were wombmates for nine months.

We also shared a crib as babies (our mother didn’t know she was having twins), and we didn’t have names for two weeks — only different colored ribbons on our wrists indicating who was the firstborn.

We shared a room growing up, were classmates all through school and were college roommates until she married.

We shared everything.

We grew up in the small town of Pretty Prairie — the only set of twins there for many years.

Eventually, in our extended Krehbiel family, there were a total of five sets of twin cousins — all identical except one set of boys.

Joann and I always dressed identically — from head to toe — until she married.

For many years we attended the Kansas State Twins Convention, where we won many “look alike” contests for our age group.

Through the years, we spent many special times together, but those times will never be again.

At the age of 51, my dear twin was killed in a tragic traffic accident on Nov. 10, 1993.

A part of me died that day.

— Leann (Krehbiel) Nickel,

Newton

Twins enjoyed tricking others

We were born in Wichita. Our parents did not know there were going to be two of us.

Our father worked for the U.S. government and was in Amarillo, Texas, the day we were born.

When he left for Texas, he had six children and it was the worst year of the Great Depression (1933).

When he returned home, he had eight children, including new twins Rita and Jean.

As babies, our mother and father said they never knew which one of us was Rita or Jean.

We were never separated until the age of 18.

We graduated from Newton High School in 1951. Jean went off to Wichita to become a nurse through St. Joseph’s School of Nursing. Rita stayed in Newton and got married.

In high school, we played a trick on one of our teachers. It was April Fools Day, and we never dressed alike after the age of about 10 or 11. That day in April, we had the same class together so we dressed alike that day and changed seats.

He never caught on but other students knew what we were doing.

While in high school, a friend, Loretta McJilton, got Jean a blind date with a Wichita State football player, Keg Herrell.

They all went to a Newton High School football game then to a dance after the game.

Jean met Rita upstairs at the Roundhouse (the YMCA) and said, “Let’s change tops, and you go down and be with this guy. He really is very cute and nice.”

So, Rita agreed.

It was a lot of fun and a lot of our friends knew we had done this. They were making it obvious to say “Hi, Jean” to me (Rita).

I was dancing with him and laughing and he said, “I think something is very different, and I feel you are not the same girl as I met earlier.”

It was fun while it lasted.

— Rita Sadowski,

Newton,

and Jean Bauer,

Wichita