Mother reunites with daughter who was thought dead

Forty-nine years ago, a woman in Olivette, Missouri, was told her daughter had died just after hours after being born. On Thursday, the mother and daughter, both very much alive, were reunited.

Zella Jackson Price, 76, met her daughter, Melanie Diane Gilmore, in person for the first time at Price’s home in Olivette, KTVI reported.

“There’s nothing greater. There’s nothing greater than this. Nothing,” Price said.

Gilmore arrived from Oregon with her own daughter and son at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and that’s where she met her brother, Harvey, for the first time.

This story began at the Homer G. Phillips Hospital. Shortly after delivering her baby, Zella Price was told the infant died. But the baby was alive and for some unknown reason, adopted by another family.

Price was hurt by the years of separation, but thankful for this second chance.

“(God) has given me everything the devil has taken from me,” Price said. “I’m getting it back. I’m getting my baby back.”

Gilmore lost her hearing at the age of 3 because of childhood illnesses. This reunion is something she’s wanted for a long time.

“I am just so happy … very excited,” she said.

Gilmore’s children knew about their mom’s wish. They used the Internet and a name that their mother apparently received from her adoptive parents. The kids eventually found Price.