After decades living apart, 5 siblings are back together under one roof

A woman holds her elderly relative&#039;s hand.

(Image credit: AFP/Getty Images)

published 12 January 2017

There's no sibling rivalry here — after spending their early years together, four elderly sisters and their brother are living together once more, this time at a Massachusetts retirement community.

"We all have different health problems and medical appointments now, but we do always check on one another," Mary Cena, 92, told Today. "We were very good to one another growing up and that still rings very true today. That's how we were able to be all together again." There were a total of 11 siblings in Cena's family, and now just five remain. Throughout their lives, the brothers and sisters were close, playing weekly bridge games and holding joint yard sales in the summer. The first one to move into the Jeffrey and Susan Brudnick Center for Living in Peabody was Carmen Wesala, 98, in 2012. Cena followed in 2013, and Georgia Southwick, 93, arrived in 2015, followed by Lucy O'Brien, 85, and brother Larry Mallia, 90.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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