Below is a transcription of the Porter Novelli listing of the 50 sets of identical twins. I have embellished some of the descriptions with additional information and images from the trip and links to pertinent sites. If you want to add, change, or delete something, email me! (CLICK HERE!) Most of all, I desperately need you all to send pictures. |
DYNAMIC DUOS: FIFTY SETS OF IDENTICAL TWINS CELEBRATE THE LAUNCH OF THE DAWN PRINCESS |
From Volunteerism to Music, Medicine, Sports, and Entertainment, Contest Winners Add an Extraordinary Flourish to the Dawn Princess Inaugural |
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In an unprecedented celebration of extraordinary twinship, Princess Cruises will honor the accomplishments of 50 sets of identical twins during the May 6-9 inaugural festivities for the new Dawn Princess, the identical "twin" ship to the highly-acclaimed Sun Princess. The 50 sets of twins range from ages 10 to 82 and will travel from all over the United States and Canada to be present in Fort Lauderdale to greet the 77,000-ton superliner. |
Winners of the "Two If by Sea-Princess Cruises Extraordinary Twins Search" were selected from more than 4,000 entrants. To qualify, entrants described, in 500 words or less, why they are extraordinary. Accomplishments could have included community service, career, a life challenge, or a special talent. The winners are as follows: |
Toni Akins and Teri Akins (age 15): (Leechburg, PA) After experiencing the effects of domestic violence first hand, Toni and Teri developed a program at local domestic violence shelters called "Mom's Day Off". As Red Cross Certified Babysitters, they provide child care duties including feedings, diaper changing, playtime, and more. In addition they also helped staff a day camp for Down Syndrome patients and currently sponsor a Brownie with Down Syndrome and another with Cerebral Palsy. |
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Mary Bell Milton and Marcy Bell (age 49): (Rock Island, IL) Community service is a constant in the lives of Mary Bell Milton and Marcy Bell. Both are active within church organizations, retirement communities and serve as co-chairs for three soup kitchens, as well as provide toys and clothes to children whose parents are incarcerated. Mary owns "Picture Perfect Travel" and Marcy is a social worker. |
Mel Bollom and Marv Bollom (age 55): (Chippwea Falls, WI/ Goodhue, MN) In 1994, Mel and Marv together formed the Environmental Brick Company and developed a process to make building products like bricks, pavers, roofing tile, etc., from coal ash, taconite tailings and other waste products. |
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Martha Carruthers and Marisca Carruthers (age 16): (Ontario, Canada) Martha and Marisca, both Triple Gold Medalists of the Canadian Figure Skating Association, teach younger skaters and have skated in the Opening Ceremonies of the Ontario Winter Games. |
Cheryl Clough Dallinger and Sheron Clough Chrysler (age 37): (British Columbia, Canada) In the early '70's, Cheryl and Sheron earned the moniker of the "running twins" when women in the sport were scarce. Both sisters coach local women's running clinics which raise money for battered and abused women. Below, you can see Cheryl and Sheron looking smashing in the front row. You can email Cheryl at dalli@ibm.net. |
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Dean Curry and David Curry (age 28): (Tacoma, WA) Twins David and Dean Curry share the pulpit as pastors of the same church. Together they started and continue to run the largest teen late-night program in the Tacoma-Seattle area. Each week, 500+ Jr High students are off the streets and involved in the program which preaches self-esteem. |
Matthew Darling and Mark Darling (age 30): (Van Nuys, CA) The Darling Twins are professional comedians. Recently, the twins appeared on the TV show "America's Funniest People" doing one of their most crown-pleasing skits: "Eddie Murphy as twins" |
Jennifer Dunn and Danielle Dunn (age 16): (Sugar Land, TX) As young authors, Jennifer and Danielle co-wrote, "Your Name in Print, A Teen's Guide to Getting Published." Also accomplished musicians, the twins play the viola in their high school orchestra and will play at the Austrian Alps Performing Arts Festival this summer. |
Joel Ernst and Patrick Ernst (age 19): (Sandy, UT) Joel and Patrick Ernst have had a very busy high school career. Extremely accomplished in the arts, the twins are members of the Ballroom team, Drama Club, Jazz Choir, National Honor Society, and PRIDE (Peers Responsible for Drug Education). Currently, Joel is majoring in accounting at the University of Utah and hopes to pursue a screenwriting and acting career, while Patrick has started his own computer imaging company. |
![]() Brandy and Bridget were recently on the TODAY show! Check out the Where are They Now page for more details! |
Joseph
Fisch and Boris ![]() |
Rick French and Randy French (age 39): (South Lima, NY) Thirteen years ago the twins started their own outdoor adventure company, Pack, Paddle and Ski. They have taken clients to 5 continents, numerous states and provinces to ride elephants, dug out canoes, spend winters in igloos, and howl for wolves! The twins are also nationally ranked U.S. ski racers. |
Lisa Ganz and Debbie Ganz (age 29): (New York, NY) ![]() |
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Cyril Jones and William Jones (age 82): (Brooklyn, NY/Newton, MA) As children of immigrants from the British West Indies, Cyril and William Jones overcame numerous ethnically charged hurdles to achieve success. Cyril is Vice Chair for the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf and Blind and is involved in many other community organizations. William lectures on physics and electrical engineering at Harvard and MIT and is also a consultant to the USAid Agency in Bangkok. |
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Joseph Kapral and John Kapral (age 40): (Spring Valley, NY) Joseph and John are community-minded twins who serve as volunteer firemen. Both have been publicly honored within their respective communities for their dedicated work saving lives. |
Anthony Kochanek and Stanley Kochanek (age 62): (Bethesda, MD/State College, PA) The Kochanek twins represent the American Dream--from baker's sons to U.S. diplomats. Stanley, a political science professor at Penn State University, is one of the country's leading experts on South Asian politics. Anthony has served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in London, Tel Aviv, Geneva and Reykjavik, where he was deputy to the U.S. Ambassador to Iceland. Currently, he is a financial planner and teaches at George Washington University. Stanley can be reached by email at sak4@psuvm.psu.edu. |
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Stuart Levy, M.D., and Jay Levy, M.D. (age 58): (Boston, MA/San Francisco, CA) Jay's study of
viruses led to two seminal ![]() Check out Where Are They NOW? for more information... |
Elizabeth Lombardi Doane and Barbara Lombardi (age 51): (Shelton, CT) Elizabeth and Barbara, both of whom are blind, have assisted with communications for the Special Olympics and do Morse Code for disasters all over the world. Betsy is a professor of math and computer science at Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport Connecticut. Barbara counsels on substance abuse and helps those who have been sexually abused. She is also on the Board of Directors of various service organizations such as the American Red Cross. Elizabeth can be reached at 0004199674@mcimail.com. |
Chris Long and Jason Long (age 13): (New Hope, MN) At the age of thirteen, the Long brothers have established a lawn mowing service with a complete marketing program. They also serve as volunteers at a Boyscouts camp for the physically disabled and help Special Education students in school. They were nominated for the "Order of the Arrow", a service oriented program for those young men who wish to commit to a lifetime of service through scouting. |
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Alexandra Manchik and Estie Manchik (age 18): (Grand Island, NE) As volunteers at the Humane Society, the Manchik twins created a program called PETS (Pets Enrich the Spirit) where they bring pets to day care centers, retirement homes, and disabled citizens. They are also DARE representatives, instructors for the debate team, co-captains of their gymnastics team and leaders in 4H. |
![]() (WARNING: May not be appropriate for some viewers, especially those with weak hearts, stomachs or bladders) Check out Where are they NOW? for more information |
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Martin Mullen and Matthew Mullen (age 28): (Santa Monica, CA) Their focus is teamwork, team
spirit, discipline, and respect. Martin and Matthew started "The Winners Circle of
Boston" which helps sixth and seventh grade students learn teamwork through athletics
and field trips. They also began "Amateur Athletic Foundation" which teaches
twelve and thirteen year olds to play competitive roller hockey with the aid of
parent-volunteers. Check out Where are They Now? for more details!
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Michael O'Brien and Mark O'Brien (age 31): (Ogunquit, ME) Career firefighters and emergency medical technicians, these twins began a career of volunteerism at the age of 15. They worked their way up the ranks to Captain and Lieutenant, respectively, and have won numerous community service awards. |
Lorna Piercy Berlinguette and Linda Piercy Paul (age 53): (Alberta/Saskatchewan, Canada) Lorna's company initiated the use of visual minorities in Canadian advertising and wrote "Bolivia: Land Above the Clouds", a book used in Canadian schools. Linda is a policy maker and conference organizer for the Status of Women Committee and is also involved with refugees. Both twins are actively involved with UNICEF. |
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Veronica Polk and Monica Polk (age 49): (Dolton, IL) Veronica and Monica wanted to make a difference in the lives of another family. In 1995, they flew a young homeless family of five from Hawaii to Chicago. They organized a welcome party for them to meet family and friends, provided them with a rented two-bedroom furnished apartment, food, a job for the father to support the family and a used car for the father to travel to work. |
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Alice Rainer and Clarice Rainer (age 64): (Opp, AL) Since making their professional ![]() |
Raymond Runyan and Desmond Runyan (age 47): (Tucson, AZ/Chapel Hill, NC) Desmond is a pediatrician and Medical Director of the Child and Family Health Program at the University of North Carolina and Duke University. He is currently organizing a program called World SAFE (Survey of Abuse and Family Environment). This is an international study of child abuse that will involve 15 nations. Raymond is an Associate Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the University of Arizona. He has been studying the mechanisms of embryonic heart development, hoping to learn ways to prevent infant heart defects through gene therapy. Desmond may be reached at drunyan@med.unc.edu, and Raymond at runyan@Biosci.Arizona.EDU. |
Susan Schneider and Robin Schneider (age 43): (Dublin, OH) Dynamic twins who have been in the travel business for 20 years. They own their own agency, Twin Horizons Travel, host a weekly travel Q & A session on "Open Line" (radio talk show), and write a monthly business travel column for "Business First" magazine. |
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Barbara Stiles and Bernice Stiles Wade (age 81): (Chapel Hill, NC) They are known ![]() |
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Karin Travers and Robin Travers, M.D.(age 32): ![]() Check out Where Are They NOW! |
Blaire Weldon Yakola and Donna Weldon Dolan (age 50): (Barnstable, MA/Hyannis, MA) Both twins have been honored for their work in Emergency Services. Donna works for the Harwich Fire Department as a fire alarm operator and an EMT. Blaire is Lieutenant/Paramedic for the Barnstable Fire Department. More extraordinary is the fact that the twins were put in an orphanage and were adopted by an identical twin and her husband. |
Jeremy Werner and Joshua Werner (age 10): (Florissant, MO) Joshua is an accomplished 10-year old chef. Not only has he won awards in young cooking contests, he has completed a cooking class taught by Roland Mesnier, White House Pastry Chef. Jeremy is an avid gardener who challenged Roger Swain, host of the PBS show "Victory Garden" to a Kelsey Sweet Giant Onion growing contest and won! |
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