‘Twins till the end’: Waco woman mourning loss of 98-year-old twin sister she lived with her entire life

WACO, Texas (KWTX) - A Waco woman who lived every day of her life under the same roof as her identical twin sister and dressed the same from head to toe for nearly a century says she can’t imagine life without her twin who died last week at the age of 98.

Louise and Lucile Brady even shared a room at nearly a 100-years-old and had matching twin beds.

Louise spoke with KWTX from the living room of the home of her niece, Julie Patterson, of Waco, where the twins moved in about eight months ago for extra care.

Louise sat in a comfortable chair next to the empty one her sister would sit in with her every day as she talked about Lucile and the great life they lived–together.

“It seems bad to be without her, but that’s the way it has to be. It has to be. There is no other way,” Louise Brady told KWTX.

Lucile Brady died after a two-week long illness on July 14.

She was a woman beloved across the Waco community.

“Lucile was very outgoing,” Louise remembered. “She was a friend to everyone.”

And no better friend to anyone than Louise.

Louise and Lucile were born November 7, 1926, in Waco.

Their mother, Mittie, dressed them alike from birth.

“My mother insisted that we do in school and so we just did it from then on,” she said. “Since she wanted us to do it, we just did it and we had no problem,” Louise said.

When the girls got old enough to pick their own clothes, they decided they preferred to match.

Even at 98, every single blouse or pant that hangs in their home has a matching one next to it. They were mirror images of one another down to their glasses, shoes and even undergarments.

Their pajamas even matched at bedtime.

“I could always change it if I wanted to, if I didn’t like it, and vice versa, she’d could change it,” Louise said. “‘You don’t want to wear this?’ ‘Okay.’ We’d wear something else.”

“We liked the same clothes, anyway, and so we just got a closet full of two of each.”

It wasn’t just clothes the sisters agreed on.

The pair graduated Waco High, attended Baylor University together and then both took jobs at Southwestern Bell where they worked in almost every department for 45 years.

“We just liked each other’s company, I guess,” Louise said. “We just lived it out. Wasn’t any problem getting the same mail, and the same friends. It was great.”

The twins never married. They dated some but said most men could never tell them apart and that was just fine with them.

“We always claim we were too busy to do anything else,” Louise laughed. “We dated some, but it didn’t work out too much. She would walk with one and I’d walk with the other one and they would get so confused over us that we just dropped it.”

No surprise, Louise and Lucile shared similar interests.

Both loved to crochet making Afghans for friend and family.

In their younger years, they loved to ride horses.

The twins enjoyed traveling all over the United States, but their favorite spot was Galveston.

As they grew older, Louise and Lucile became dedicated fans of Baylor University Head Basketball Coach Kim Mulkey and her Baylor Lady Bears.

They attended both home and away games, one time traveling to Kansas for the Big 12 Championship.

Mulkey was mentioned in Lucile’s obituary.

“We were big on sports and Kim Mulkey was our favorite,” Louise said. “She was there when we needed her to be.”

Louise said she never talked to her sister about death or what the day would be like when one was left without the other.

She assumed when Lucile got sick recently, she’d “snap out of it.”

Louise picked out the outfit Lucile was buried in.

“And I wore the same thing,” Louise said.

Lucile is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Waco next to their parents.

Louise says she has a plot next to her sister where one day she’ll join her, but until then, she’ll miss her twin every day of her life.

“The thing I miss the most right now is her sitting in the chair next to me” Louise said. “I miss talking to her about basketball. I miss eating with her. I just miss everything about her.”