Lori and George Chappelle, conjoined twins whose skulls were partially fused but who led independent lives, died April 7 in Philadelphia. They were 62 years old.
The funeral home, which was reported to have died at the hospital, did not disclose the cause of death.
Dr. Christopher Moir, a professor of surgery at the Mayo Clinic who has been part of the team that separated six sets of conjoined twins, said that if one member of the Chappelle family died, the other would likely have died. Almost certainly followed quickly.
“Conjoined twins share a cycle, so unless we urgently separate their connection in some way, this is an absolutely fatal and unfeasible process,” he said.
The Schappells lived much longer than expected when they were born as craniocranial twins, rare conjoined heads. They are listed in Guinness World Records as the second-oldest conjoined twins of all time.
They were joined by the forehead and looked in opposite directions. Laurie was fit and pushed George, who has spina bifida, on a wheeled chair. George was born female, and in the 1990s she changed her name to Reba, after country singer Reba McEntire, but she later identified as a trans male.
They were adamant that they were separate people.
“We are two human beings brought into this world with one body connected,” Laurie said in a short ITV documentary from 1997. “This is a condition that occurs at birth, and people need to learn to understand it. . When they see this” – she points to the joined heads – “all they see is this.”
She added: “There is more to Reba and I than this. Guys, get past this already, get past that and learn to know the individual.”
Lori worked in a hospital laundry room in the 1990s and enjoyed bowling.
George has performed country music both in the United States and abroad. He won the award for Best New Country Artist at the 1997 Los Angeles Music Awards. They sang “The Fear of Being Alone” over the closing credits of the comedy “Stuck on You” (2003), directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly, starring Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon as conjoined twins.
The Schappells were hired as technical consultants for the film, but when the Farrellys learned of Reba's musical talent, they had Reba perform “The Fear of Being Alone,” a song McIntire had recorded in 1996, the Los Angeles Times reported. Reba Schappell also made a video for the song.
In 2002, Reba appeared on ‘The Jerry Springer Show’ and sang ‘Dr. 'Talk' is a song written and recorded by Springer in 1995. As she played, the audience stood and applauded.
They gave each other space to pursue their own pursuits. “Rory is like any other fan, except she's on stage with me when I sing,” Reba told BBC Radio in 2006.
On the Springer show, the twins brought up the fact that Lori was dating a guy and discussed their plan of action.
While dating Lori, Reba said, “I wasn’t into it. I was there physically. I didn’t see anything and I didn’t say anything.”
“I really forgot she was there,” Lori added.
Lori said she's only hung out with men so far. “I won’t go any further than hugging or kissing you,” she said. I will give up my virginity on my wedding night.”
Lori, who said she dated a man, added, “We have had an intimate relationship.”
They were born on September 18, 1961, in West Reading, Pennsylvania, two of eight children of Franklin and Ruth Chappelle. The doctor gave them one year to live.
“Then he said we wouldn’t live past 2 or we wouldn’t live past 3.” Lori told the Los Angeles Times in 2002: “Every year he was wrong. I told him the other day that if he could see us now, we'd be 41 and he'd still be here.”
According to a 2005 New York magazine article, the twins were placed in an institution for the intellectually disabled in Reading at a young age.
“Because they were not mentally retarded, their caregivers made their beds and fed the other children,” said Ellen Weissbrod, who directed the 2000 documentary “Face to Face: The Schappell Twins.” “I helped give it,” he said by phone.
The Schappells were institutionalized for more than 20 years until they met Ginny Thornburgh, the wife of Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh, in the 1980s. Mr. Thornburgh was a disability activist, and Governor Thornburgh closed some state institutions for people with developmental disabilities.
Passing on his memories of the Schappell family through Paul Kritchlow, Governor Thornburgh's former press secretary, Mr. Thornburgh said that from speaking with the Schappell family, it was clear that they were not intellectually disabled and did not belong in an institution. She spoke with the facility's chaplain, who helped move them to a senior home in Redding.
Mr. Thornburgh later invited them to lunch at the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg. She also visited their apartment.
They are survived by their father; their sisters, Denise Schappell, Brenda Zellers and Patti Cahill; and their brothers Rodney, Dennis and Gregory. Their mother died in 2019.
The Chappelle twins said they never wanted to be separated by surgery, nor did they want to be born apart.
“Our parents taught us from the time we were older to better know and understand what they were saying.” Rory told ITV: “God did this for a purpose.”