Leah Arnold hadn't seen her brothers and sisters for more than 30 years, but that all changed Saturday night at the Salt Lake International Airport.
The reunion was a joyous occasion full of hugs and tears.At 5:48 p.m. Arnold embraced her older sisters Debra Winkler, Vonnie Curzon, Jennifer Womack and their families from whom she'd been separated since she was 2.
"I didn't know I had so many relatives," Arnold said, smiling after she stepped off the plane. "It has been a very long time - 30 years."
Arnold was the last child born to James Birdwell and Arlette Nichols (now Livingston) in 1959. After a family separation in 1961, Womack and Winkler were placed in a foster home, as were their two brothers, Johnny and James Jr., said Winkler.
In 1964, Birdwell regained custody of the boys and the girls were returned to Nichols. To their dismay, they found that Leah had been adopted by a different family and they could not reach her.
"We all decided to search for her (Arnold)," Winkler said. "It was frustrating at times, but we always held on to hope." Winkler and Curzon now live in Utah.
During the intervening years, Arnold was living in Savannah, Ga., doing some root-searching of her own.
"The courts are very strict in Georgia, and the judge would not permit my records to be released to me," she said. "It was very frustrating."
Even after failed attempts to overturn the judge's ruling, Arnold held strong to her cause.
"I never gave up hope," she said. "After years of persistent searching, I really lucked out and, with the help from my adopted parents, I found some Birdwells living in Idaho. That opened up everything."
Agreeing with her younger sister, Winkler said things fell in place toward the latter part of the search.
"We got to the point where we compiled Leah's description and birth date and circulated a national ad," she said. "On May 18, we found her."
But with the joy came the anxiety.
"We were very excited but at the same time a little nervous," Womack said. "It's not like meeting somebody for the first time as a friend or acquaintance."
Arnold will stay with her new-found family for a week and, through pictures and family gatherings, catch up on 30 lost years.
"I just want adopted people who want to find their natural families to know that they still can have hope," she said.