Woman, sister set to meet> NBC to air story

PALMYRA — Yvette Melanson of Palmyra will fly to New York this afternoon to meet her Navajo sister for the first time. The moment will be captured for national TV.

Melanson knew all her life she had been adopted, but discovered only last month that she was stolen from her Navajo family in 1953 and sold through a black market ring to a wealthy, Jewish New York family. After decades of searching, Melanson found her lost Navajo family through a connection on the Internet.

Her story was told by The Bangor Daily News and picked up by The Boston Globe, which ran a front-page story Thursday that caught the eye of NBC News personnel.

“What an amazing, amazing story,” said Jennifer Shepard, an associate producer of NBC News in Boston. Shepard has arranged for Melanson to fly from Bangor to New York to be reunited with Lora Chee, her sister. Chee is being flown in from Arizona, where most of Melanson’s family, the Monrows, live on a reservation, much as they did when Melanson was born, one of a set of twins.

In the years since Melanson was stolen, her biological mother has died. Her father, Yazzi, a medicine man, is still living on the reservation.

The sisters will meet in a hotel, said Shepard, and although the reunion will not be private, only Shepard and a camera operator will intrude on what will likely be a very emotional moment.

Melanson said Thursday, “I’ve never fainted, but this will probably do it.” She said she was shocked when NBC News called her. “They said, `Do you want to meet your sister?’ and I said, `Yes, yes, yes.’ ”

Shepard said Chee reacted in much the same fashion. “She kept asking me, `Is this a joke? Are you playing a trick?’ ”

The women will appear live on NBC News’ “Today,” which airs from 7 to 9 a.m Saturday. They are scheduled to be seen just after the 8 a.m. news break. WLBZ-TV, Channel 2, is the local NBC affiliate.

“This woman has had an incredible life.” said Shepard. “Just unbelievable.”

Melanson discovered through her computer search that she was a “Lost Bird,” one of many Indian children stolen from their parents and either illegally adopted or sold on the black market. Her adoptive mother suffered from a kidney disease and both her adoptive parents were too old when she was bought to be eligible for a standard adoption.

Melanson was born Minibob Monrow in a hogan on the reservation and was taken from the family by a public health nurse. She was never seen again by her people, who have also been searching for her for 40 years.

The Palmyra woman, who lived in Texas and Israel before arriving in Maine 10 years ago, always knew she was adopted. Her adoptive mother died, her father remarried and the family fortune went to a stepmother who didn’t want Melanson around.

Melanson began searching through private detectives and old records many years ago. But it wasn’t until she linked up to the Internet that her search was successful.

An intermediary in New Mexico linked Lora Chee’s search in Arizona to Melanson’s search in Maine.

Melanson found out that although she was raised in New York City as an only child, she actually had nine brothers and sisters in Arizona and a missing twin brother who was stolen when she was. But the Melansons and her found family are both unable to afford a trip to meet each other. She said the call from NBC News was “an answered prayer.”