Gayle Balaban grew up in Tinton Falls, N.J., with adopted parents she described as being like Archie and Edith Bunker from “All in the Family.”
Michael Economy grew up in Elizabeth, N.J., and never knew his father. When he was 13, his mother died and he went to live with his aunt in Franklin Township, N.J., because his stepfather didn’t want him.
Until a few months ago, Balaban and Economy never knew they were brother and sister with the same set of parents.
On Tuesday morning, the two met for the first time in Chattanooga, where Balaban moved in 1987.
“Oh, my God,” Balaban said as Economy approached her outside the Panera Bread on Gunbarrel Road, greeting her with a hug and a bouquet of flowers. “I’d get up but I’d fall over.”