Over the years, I’ve covered hundreds of heartwarming stories, and if I’m totally honest, I love to share things that make people smile or cry happy tears.
In short, I’ve written so much that these days it takes a lot to get my heart going.
Yet when I first read about Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane, time stopped for a moment. Their unbelievable story warmed my heart in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time.
In 2017, these lifelong friends got the shock of their lives when they discovered they were actually real-life brothers.
But how did these siblings go 60 years without knowing they were related and shared the same mother?
Alan Robinson and Walter Macfarlane, both from Hawaii, first met in sixth grade.
Their friendship grew after their first encounter, and before long the boys were doing everything together. They played high school football and attended the Punahou School, Barack Obama’s alma mater.
The sports-loving friends also teamed up on the Aloha Airlines softball team. For much of their lives, they lived only 10 minutes apart.
Growing up, they joked that they would marry the same girl, and there can no doubt that Alan and Walter were extremely close. After college and trips to Vietnam, Alan and Walter returned to Honolulu to settle down and raise families.
Alan and Walter both got married and had children. They remained good pals and stayed in touch. They went on vacation together with their families and sent their kids to the same school.
“This guy was like an older brother all along. We’d go skin diving; I’d be making noise in the water, splashing around, he’d be teaching me how to do it right. He always came out of the water with a bigger string of fish. And I had the smallest,” Alan Robinson told KITV 4 in 2017.
During their long friendship, the guys had no idea they were biological brothers and shared the same mom. Then, after 60 years of friendship, Walter became suspicious and started doing some detective work.
Walter actually wanted to look for his missing biological father, so he ordered some DNA tests.
“My older daughter Cindy really wanted us to look for my dad and said ‘Let’s get it done.’ So, the kids got me a gift,” Walter told talk show host Steve Harvey in 2018.
Walter Macfarlane’s daughter dug into her father’s past via various websites that help track down relatives. She soon found something very interesting.
“The strongest DNA relationship was Robi737, which the test said would be a half-brother,” Cindy Macfarlane-Flores told CNN.
“My first thought is that they were related via the father. But when I looked at their X chromosome, which is only carried by the mother, it was an identical match. It hit me like a ton of bricks that they have the same mother!”
Cindy contacted her parents and asked if they knew anyone who used the name “Robi737.” Her mother, Martha, had a guess.
“Have Dad ask Uncle Alan because he flew 737s for Aloha Airlines… and everyone called him Robby back then.”
It turned out that Alan had also used DNA testing to learn more about his family. His username? Robi737.
“When we got the results back it was discovered that Alan wasn’t only my best friend, he was my brother,” Walter explained.
“I had a younger brother that I lost when he was 19, so I never had nieces or nephews. I thought I’d never know my birth mother, I’d never had any nieces or nephews,” Alan said.
“It was an overwhelming experience, it’s still overwhelming. I don’t know how long it’s going to take for me to get over this feeling.”
So how did these two brothers go 60 years without knowing they were related? To answer that question, we must go back to a turbulent time in world history.
When Walter was born in 1943, Honolulu was still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor. The city was chaotic, people suffered from power outages and air raids. For reasons that are still unclear, Walter’s mother, Genevieve, wanted to give her son up for adoption.
When Genevieve’s parents heard about their daughter’s plans, they decided ”to Hānai” their grandson – a Hawaiian tradition where a family can adopt a person informally.
“It was a crazy time, and we have no idea what must have led to her decisions,” Cindy Macfarlane-Flores, Walter’s daughter, said. “We still hold her in the highest regard and understand that the actions and decisions she had to make back then were for the best.”
One year after Walter was born, Alan Robinson came into the world. He was adopted immediately after his birth and never knew his biological parents.
“It was great for me,” Robinson said.
“I was raised by the best people you can imagine. But when I had my own two children I did wonder about family history, because I can never answer any health questions on official forms.”
Because Walter and Alan looked similar to one another, some people thought they were related during their youth. But no one knew for sure before the DNA tests revealed the secret.
If you look at these guys today, you can definitely see that they are related! They even seem to have the same style when it comes to clothes!
Alan and Walter still haven’t found their biological fathers, but they now at least have some essential pieces of their family puzzle in place.
The two brothers often eat lunch together and plan to do many more things together in the future. We can only wish them luck and thank them for sharing an incredible story that has warmed thousands of hearts worldwide!
What a wonderful gift to find your brother was always there walking through life with you!
Even though they didn’t know they were brothers, and neither was raised by their birth parents, they got to share their whole lives; they were there for every important moment and have a lifetime of memories. They are the best of friends already, and this is just the icing on the cake.
