‘I remember being 5 years old, wishing I could find my mother’
Vermont woman, 69, is reunited with her mother who was told her child died at birth, nearly 70 years ago
Genevieve Purinton, 88, was 18 when she gave birth to a girl in 1949, but never got to hold her child – she was told her baby had died
But, the child lived and was adopted – that child, Connie Moultroup, now 69, spent her whole life looking for her birth mother
She was raised in South Carolina and is now a massage therapist in Vermont
Her daughter gifted her an Ancestry DNA kit last Christmas which connected her to a cousin and later to her mom
The mother and daughter first connected on the phone on Sept 8 
They cried as they met face to face on Dec 3, at Purinton’s Florida nursing home  
Connie Moultroup, and Genevieve Purinton 5.pngOn Dec 3, Connie Moultroup, [left], at the age of 69 laid eyes on her 88-year-old mother, Genevieve Purinton [right]. Purinton was unaware that the only offspring she had survived after birth
An elderly woman with no family thought she was all alone in the world until she was reunited with the daughter she was told died after birth, nearly 70 years later.
Genevieve Purinton, 88, thought she had no family left and lives a quiet life in an assisted living center in North Tampa.
With all of her eight siblings dead, having no other children after she went through heartbreak in 1949 when she gave birth at the age of 18 and was told the child had died.
It came as a massive surprise when it turned out the child, born in Gary, Indiana, was very much alive and was given up for adoption and raised in South Carolina.
Genevieve Purinton [left] reunited with her daughter Connie Moultroup 2No siblings alive, only child dead at birth, but on Dec 3 Genevieve Purinton [left] had a new lease as her daughter Connie Moultroup, a massage therapist based in Vermont, reunited with her at a Florida assisted living home 
Genevieve Purinton [left], reunited with her daughter Connie Moultroup [right] 1.pngMoultrop spent her whole life looking for her birth mother, the pair were finally connected after Moultroup took an Ancestry DNA test last Christmas. Thanks to a gift from her own daughter

‘I asked to see the baby and they said she died, that’s all I remember,’ Purinton said to NBC. 
Connie Moultroup, now 69, spent her whole life searching for her birth mother.
‘It’s been a lifetime of wanting this. I remember being five years old, wishing I could find my mother,’ Moultroup, who lives in Vermont, said.
Moultroup’s adoptive mother passed away when she was just five and her stepmother was abusive, giving her a rough childhood.
‘She would fantasize about her mother rescuing her since she was five years old. It’s truly her life-long dream,’ Moultroup’s daughter Bonnie Chase, 50, said.
Moultroup was able to trace her mother after Chase bought her an Ancestry DNA kit last Christmas.
‘It was just a cool Christmas present and it has completely changed our lives,’ Chase said.
The kit connected her to a cousin. When they finally met via phone, Moultroup gave her birth mother’s name and the relative replied ‘oh, that’s my aunt…and she’s still alive’.
Those words changed Moultroup’s life and after 69 years of wondering, she was finally able to meet her mother on Monday December 3.
The mother and daughter met in an emotional and tearful reunion at the Haley Park Apartments retirement community in Tampa, Florida.
Purinton now not only has a long-lost daughter, she has a granddaughter and great-grandchildren.

Genevieve Purinton [left], reunited with her daughter Connie Moultroup [right] 6.pngAt long last. Mother and Daughter are forging a new life together to make up for lost time. Purinton not only has a long-lost daughter, she has gained a granddaughter and great-grandchildren.
Connie Moultroup and her daughter Bonnie Case 1 .pngBonnie Chase [left] gifted her an Ancestry DNA kit last Christmas to her mom, Connie Moultroup [right]. The gift kicked off a series of events leading to the reunion with her biological granddaughter

The hmoving December meeting was the first time the mother and daughter, a massage therapist, met face to face. But they spoke on the phone first on September 8.
Purinton received a card in the mail with Moultroup’s number.
‘It took her a while to call but she finally called,’ Moultroup said.
When she picked up the phone she heard Purinton say: ‘I think I’m your mother.’
‘You could’ve heard a pin drop. I said, “Oh my God,”‘ Moultroup recalled.
‘She wanted to remember if I knew my original name, Margaret Ann Mitch,’ she added. And Moultroup indeed remembered.
The women say their miraculous reunion was full of tears and now they’re making up for lost time.
‘We’re criers. We just cry a lot. There were a lot of tears and there’s been a lot of tears the entire time since then. It’s been really amazing,’ Moultroup said.