It was no coincidence that Thursday was the National Day of Prayer. For Elizabeth Barnes and Florese Keith, their prayers were answered.
The two sisters had not seen each other in more than 50 years.
"I didn't even know if she was still alive," said Barnes, who lives in Blytheville.
The two were separated at an early age when their parents split up. Barnes went to New York with her mother, while Keith stayed with their grandmother.
"I was always with my grandmother," Keith said.
Keith remembers going to visit her sister and mother in New York for two weeks as a teenager, but is not sure how old she was at the time. "I think I had one year of school left," she said.
She returned to South Carolina, finished high school and married.
Barnes did the same in New York. The two last saw each other when Barnes was 20 and Keith was 23.
"I was pregnant with my oldest daughter when I last saw her," Barnes said.
Keith lived in Chicago for many years, while Barnes was in New York. Barnes' home burned and Keith could not find her.
"I didn't know whether they'd found her dead or what," Keith said.
About the same time, Keith's family left the Chicago area and moved to Michigan, eventually settling in the small town of Covert.
"It's not even on a map, it's so small," Keith said of her hometown.
Barnes and her late husband moved to Blytheville in 2003 to join friends of theirs, who had moved here too. Just a month after moving to Blytheville, her husband died, leaving her alone.
But Barnes had her friends and her church family and has no intentions of leaving.
"Everyone thought when my husband died that I would leave, but I'm not. I have no reason to leave," she said.
The same friend that convinced Barnes to move to Blytheville found Keith for her.
"She got on the computer and found her," Barnes said. "I had told her to look for her in Chicago, but she found her in Michigan. I had been searching for years, but had been looking in Chicago."
Neither had even thought about doing a computer search to find the other. Barnes doesn't even own a computer.
"I have a computer but I don't know how to use it," Keith said.
Keith is clearly the older sister, convincing Barnes to eat even when she said she wasn't hungry.
After several minutes of hugs and kisses, the two stood back and gave each other the once-over.
"You got fat," Barnes said to Keith.
"I say I'm fat and fantastic," Keith said.
Less than five minutes after being reunited, Keith began urging Barnes to come to Michigan to live with her.
"I told you I'm not going anywhere," Barnes answered. "I'm bossy. I don't let people tell me what to do."
But Keith was undeterred, saying that their daughters could come to her house in Michigan to visit them.
Barnes has three daughters and Keith has one daughter.
"You come to my house and the girls can come visit us there," Keith said.
Despite being separated more than 50 years ago, the two are surprisingly similar.
"I knew her the second she got off the bus," said the Rev. Greg Bowers, Barnes's pastor who volunteered to pick Keith up at the bus station.
Keith made the 16-hour bus trip and said she slept most of the night. "The only complaint I had was it was cold on the bus," she said.
In addition to looking alike, the two sisters have many things in common -- they both have dogs and they have some of the same hobbies, such as cooking. They both have a very keen sense of humor, easily teasing each other and others as they speak.
The sisters will spend a week here in Blytheville. They have no specific plans, but both hope they get to make a trip to a restaurant in Tunica that is famous for its food.
The two will also be treated to cooking by one of Barnes' daughters, who is a chef for a large hotel in Virginia Beach, Va.
Keith plans to do some cooking while she's here as well.
"I'm going to cook for her and she's going to love it," the older sister said.
dhilton@blythevillecourier.com