1984 Vindicator page strengthens bond between two women

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

Brenda Coonce and Nora Black, perfect strangers before meeting a year ago, had no idea one newspaper clipping tied them together 25 years before.

Coonce, who works for Community Caregivers in Canfield, said she was paired with 91-year-old Black last year, and the women immediately formed a bond. But Coonce said it wasn’t until March that she realized she and Black were truly meant to be in each other’s lives.

“I was moving stuff out of one of her drawers and doing laundry, and I looked down and there it was,” Coonce said.

What she found was a newspaper from 1984 lining the bottom of Black’s drawer, and in that newspaper was Coonce’s own wedding announcement.

“I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I looked down and saw my name, and then I saw my picture ... I was like ‘Oh, my God. That’s me.’”

Black, who has dementia, said she didn’t remember specific details of that day, but said that she hugged Coonce and told her she could keep the newspaper clipping.

“I haven’t changed the paper in my drawer for 26 years,” she told Coonce on that day.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.