Double blessings on Mother’s Day

WARREN — On the afternoon of April 17, Ann Lundy and Aileen Thorington met up with their mother Sara Scrivano in the lobby of Henry Ford Warren Hospital at 12 Mile and Hoover roads.

Sara, an accomplished pianist who has performed in many local musical groups for decades, volunteers twice a week playing the piano in the hospital vestibule.

Ann, who lives in Manhattan Beach, California, and Aileen, of Woodhaven, came to the hospital with other family members to watch their mom play and for the twin sisters’ 56th birthdays.

With Mother’s Day approaching this year on May 10, Sara, Ann and Aileen recently reflected on their family unit, growing up with mom and what it’s really like being twin sisters.

Being back at the medical center was like coming full circle for the siblings who were born there in 1970 when it was known as South Macomb Hospital. Their arrival was a surprise to Sara and husband Robert “Bob” Scrivano. They had no idea Sara was having twins; neither did her doctor. By 1970, Bob and Sara had two sons, David, 2 1/2; and Michael, 3 1/2, and were now a growing family of six.

“We were expecting only one child. We already had two baby boys. At that time, it was not usual practice to take X-rays or prenatal photos so long as nothing unusual was happening,” Sara said. “I didn’t find out until they took me into the delivery room that I was having twins. After that statement, I no longer felt any more labor pains. I think I was in shock. And my husband was in shock for a week afterward. I went to the hospital at 8 o’clock in the morning. I had Ann at 12:15 and Aileen at 12:18, so it was pretty fast.”

Although born three weeks early, the infant girls were healthy.

“Imagine having four children in three and a half years, but what a blessing,” Sara detailed in an autobiography she wrote for her family. “And we have been blessed ever since. Those four children have given us 13 wonderful grandchildren and two great granddaughters. Talk about blessings.”

When Sara held her newborn twins for the first time, “I was so thrilled, absolutely thrilled.”

Family support was there for the family as Sara’s own mother, Rose Cilluffo, was always available for babysitting and advice.

“She was such a help for me,” Sara said. “Talk about moms, she was the greatest.”

Bob also was very hand-on with the children and a “great role model,” Sara said.

 

Faith and family
Bob, who turns 84 this month, and Sara, 87, met in the Young People’s Club at Holy Family Catholic Church in Detroit. They married Sept. 11, 1965, and last fall celebrated their 60-year wedding anniversary. Students who attended Lincoln High School from 1966 to 2008 might remember Mr. Scrivano, who taught Spanish there.

While growing up in Warren, the kids always knew their mom had a deep faith. Bob and Sara currently attend St. Martin de Porres Catholic Parish Church in Warren.

“Family first and believing in God was the foundation,” Ann said. “Everyone knows anything my mom prays for comes true.”

Ann was named after the Catholic saint Anne. Bob and Sara didn’t have another name picked out until he suggested Aileen after a student he had in class.

When they can, the close-knit family gathers for Mother’s Day to celebrate.

“I enjoy any day where all of my kids are together,” Sara said. “We loved them, and we still do. Our grandkids are turning out to be as wonderful as our kids have been.”

“She’s the kindest person you’ll ever meet in your entire life,” Ann said of Mom. “She was always present at our sporting events. She loves to bring joy to other people’s lives.”

Something that always makes Aileen laugh is when she helps her mom, who is not great with technology, troubleshoot her cellphone.

“When I need her face ID to put into her device, she says, ‘Cheese,’ like I’m taking her picture,” Aileen said.   

Their mom was always loving and present, but there was one rule they had to follow as children. The twins remember that at 2 p.m. every day, they kept quiet so Mom could watch her soap opera “Days of our Lives.”

Aileen is a retired high school teacher. Ann, also retired, worked for many companies, including Walt Disney, the Mattel toy company, Active Visions Inc., and Microsoft. Michael works for KE Electric. David is the president and CEO of Little Caesar’s Pizza.

Ann and Aileen try to instill the same values to their children their parents taught them.

Ann has two children, Andrew, 18, and Nick, 21.

Aileen has two children, Tyler, 28, and Katie, 26. It looks like Katie has taken after her grandmother in the arts. She, too, is an accomplished pianist and sings.

 

Two of a kind
“It’s the greatest thing in the world,” Ann said of being a twin. “It’s a built-in buddy and unconditional awesomeness. I’ve never known anything else.”

The sisters have a closeness that is incomparable.

“We finish each other’s sentences,” Aileen said.

“We sound exactly the same on the phone,” Ann said. “Our parents and husbands can’t tell us apart.”

One time as kids when Aileen “cracked her head open,” Ann could feel it.

“I wasn’t there,” Ann said. “I was home. She was next door. I remember my head hurting.”

But there were spats between the siblings in their formative years.

“We used to fight over clothes,” Ann said.

That included the time in which a pair of parachute pants almost ripped in half.

The pair did things only twins can get away with. While growing up, Ann and Aileen changed identities at school every April Fools’ Day from first through eighth grade. The shenanigans continued while students at Warren Woods Tower High School, where they graduated from in 1988.

“We tried to fool our boyfriends here and there just for a joke,” Aileen said.

When out in public, heads turned as people did double takes. Most people couldn’t tell them apart, but there was one difference that made it easier.

“When we got older Aileen always had bangs,” Ann said.

One year, Ann, Aileen, Sara and Bob traveled to Twinsburg, Ohio, for the annual Twins Day Festival, always held the first full weekend in August. The foursome enjoyed food tasting tests, a 5-kilometer race, contests, the Double Take parade, a game show and more. The sisters met a lot of other twins.

“Many live together,” Ann said. “They were shocked beyond belief that Ann and I live bi-coastal. We talk every single day. I miss her every day.”