Donna Guthrie of Kalispell got the surprise of a lifetime when she opened her front door Wednesday evening. 

There with open arms was the sister she hadn’t seen for 42 years.

“I had a panic attack,” Guthrie said as she recounted the reunion with her younger sister, Ora Becker of Dushore, Pa. “It was a complete surprise when she came to the door.”

There were hugs — lots of hugs — and quite a few tears.

“We hugged so much I thought I’d get squeezed to death,” Becker said, laughing.

“It’s just beautiful,” Guthrie declared. “I never thought I’d see her again.”

The sisters, both widows, have talked on the phone every Tuesday night for years, but neither was able to put together a trip to see one another. After Becker’s husband died last August following a stroke, the thought of a reunion surfaced once again, as it had many times through the years.

It was Becker’s enthusiastic next-door neighbor, Cindi McCarty, who orchestrated the trip and made it happen. She offered to drive Becker to her sister’s home in Kalispell. When they decided driving cross-country would be too much of an ordeal, McCarty booked the plane tickets and set the plan in motion.

Becker, who turns 76 next month, had never flown before — but McCarty wasn’t about to let her back out.

“I thought, ‘Boy, am I in for it now,’” Becker said with a laugh. “I was a little nervous, but Cindi called me every day.”

Guthrie’s daughter, Deborah Weaver, who lives with her mother, helped arrange the surprise meeting and said it was difficult keeping such big news under wraps.

The trip came together flawlessly, with Becker getting the royal treatment for her inaugural flight. By the time the plane landed in Denver to connect with a Kalispell flight, all of the passengers were clapping and cheering as they learned about the long-overdue reunion that was in the works. And Becker got commemorative sets of wings from the airline for both her and her sister.

“We were waving like queens,” McCarty said, telling how a motorized cart whisked them through the Denver airport to their gate with just minutes to spare before the plane to Kalispell was to leave.

Becker and her good neighbor are spending a week in Kalispell and were able to help celebrate Guthrie’s 80th birthday on Friday.

“I told her, ‘Don’t expect a present from me. I’m present enough,’” Guthrie joked.

The sisters, whose maiden name is Minier, grew up in Satterfield, Pa., a small community that at one time was home to mostly their relatives. They were among a family of 12 children, of whom only four are still living. The sisters have one brother and an older sister who’s nearly 90.

With a dozen children under one roof, the siblings shared beds, and Becker and Guthrie were bed mates.

“I had to listen to Donna because she was the older one,” Becker recalled. “She was the boss.”

As they left home and married, life took them in different directions. Becker had two children; Guthrie had four; both have varying numbers of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Guthrie’s husband, Bill, who died 23 years ago, was in the military and was stationed at the U.S. Air Force base in Lakeside. They remained in Kalispell after his retirement, and through the years she worked as a nurse’s aide and a teacher’s aide for District 5 and for years was employed by Flathead Industries, where she helped start its first thrift store and managed it. Guthrie also worked at Friendship House in Kalispell for many years.

Becker worked mostly in retail, at grocery stores and at Dunkin’ Donuts for a number of years.

They’re enjoying each other’s company while they can, and Becker is trying to persuade her sister to move back to her home state of Pennsylvania. But Guthrie has lived in her westside Kalispell home for 40 years and this is where her network of friends and family are. 

This is home.

So they will cram their days full of memories, enough to last a lifetime when Guthrie flies back home.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.