90-Year-Old Mother Reunites With Daughter Given Up for Adoption 70 Years Ago

The reunion came about because of a special Christmas gift.

It took seven decades for Elizabeth Pullen to lay eyes on her daughter, Lynne Wray, for the very first time.

"It was just beautiful. It was beautiful. It was just a blessing. She and I had been looking for each other for years and years. I was just so excited,” Pullen told InsideEdition.com. "I can't explain it. When you give someone a gift — and that's the way I felt about my daughter — I gave someone a gift. And that gift was returned to me."

It all started with the 90-year-old's granddaughter Wanda LeBlanc.

“My mom gave my sister and I and our husbands DNA kits for Christmas and we just thought it would be fun to learn about our heritage and so she kinda made a joke and said, ‘This is gonna be the gift that keeps on giving,’” LeBlanc told InsideEdition.com.

Little did they know, she was right.

Once LeBlanc got her results back, she realized her closest unknown link was to 70-year-old Wray.

"So when I clicked on her name it said, 'I am adopted and I have never met my birth family.' And I was just perplexed on who this could be and excited there was a family member out there we didn't know about."

The two exchanged contact information.

"As soon as she answered the phone, I said, ‘Hi Lynne, this is Wanda.’ And she started crying as soon as she heard my voice. She said you're the first member of my birth family that I've ever talked to," LeBlanc said.

“She told me that all she knew was her birth city and that her mom was part-Indian. And I was told all my life that my grandmother was part-Indian, and so I — that’s where my mind went right away.” 

LeBlanc then turned to her grandmother for answers. In the 1940s, she’d given Wray up for adoption.

"A part of the adoption process in the '40s is if a woman is giving birth and was giving the baby up for adoption, they were not allowed to see the baby. So my grandmother actually never saw Lynne when she delivered Lynne," LeBlanc explained.

Pullen said she'd always known she'd be reunited with her baby girl.

"We never gave up. When you give a gift, you know someday it's going to return. I knew I'd find her. I knew that was in God's plan. I knew that I would see her someday," Pullen said.

Since their reunion, the two have been chatty Cathies and they celebrated with a special photo shoot.

"We did not stop talking for a solid week," Pullen said. "And I think we can continue on talking forever. Because she just is an angel. Her father would've been proud of her. All my children shared the same father. And her daddy, she looks so much like her father's side of the family and we're just excited to have her back."

LeBlanc said her grandmother feels like the reunion is a matter of divine intervention.

“My grandmother isn't in the best health and has often questioned why God has kept her on this earth — now she knows why."

Wray lives in North Carolina. Pullen lives in Louisiana. They have made plans for both sides of the family to get together during the summer.

Question is — have they found any other long-lost relatives?

"I hope I don't have another one but if I did I would welcome her," Pullen laughed.

This reunion — proof you can never break family ties.

RELATED STORIES