For  Grown-up Waggoner Sisters, Filming of Documentary
Brings Flood of Emotions

Irma Allen, Charleston

"What I have seen of the documentary shows that producer Tim Hartin told it like it was. He did an excellent job on it. The scene about Audrey's childhood abuse was done in real good taste. The courthouse story was the worst to watch. I could feel the hopelessly empty feeling I had then.

"I didn't know my dad real well. He was never one to talk much to me. Watching the story I saw what mom must have felt. Now that I'm older and can understand more I can see she was the one that it hurt the most. I'm glad that all of her children were around a lot and we were there for her before she died.

"Us girls always had a strong bond between us and it's even stronger after we got back together again, even the two younger ones that were adopted out. The girls that played us seemed to know the story and wanted to do a good job. They all had some characteristic that related to the one they were portraying. They did very well.

"The story brought a whole range of emotions in me. All of us girls were a happy bunch and now we have even more to be happy about. There was never a mention of love when we were children and the hugs only lasted until the next one came along. I don't believe it has affected me in any way. Between all of us girls there is honesty, trust, devotion and respect for one another. Most of all we truly LIKE each other and ourselves. Call it love if you will. The documentary is a wonderful legacy for our children and grand-children. Someone was surely looking over us."

Doris Wenzel, Mahomet

"From early on, I knew I was adopted. I grew up in the 1940s, with Mother and Dad: Amanda and Dale Replogle. At that time, there were no other children in the household, though Grandpa Replogle, or Grandma Thompson, or Grandpa Thompson frequently lived with us. And because Dad and Mother owned the R&R Skating Rink in Charleston, Illinois, and the little cafe attached to it, there were usually lots of people around.

"Those people did not include, however, nine sisters and two brothers. Over time, I became aware of that shadow family and that I was the 10th sister. I carried that knowledge, and the understanding that I had been the "lucky one," always feeling that fate had plucked me from poverty and uncertainty, and that I should feel both grateful and relieved. I did.

"Though curiosity grew, knowledge of my sisters and brothers was scant and limited by the erosion of time. By 1990, I had founded Mayhaven Publishing, and a few years later, two books, co-authored by my sisters and I, would present our experience from each sister's point of view. How others view us, though, also defines us. The writings of others and an award-winning WILL-TV Prairie Fire segment, have done some of that. Now a WILL-TV television documentary of our collective experience has been produced. Other little girls are portraying us as children, and events that separated us are explored. As my sisters and I will not view the completed documentary until its premiere, I am again filled with curiosity and wonder if my sisters, no longer in shadows, will be brought into an even clearer focus."

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