Long Lost Brothers Trace Family Tree To Colorado

By Joel Hillan

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - Walter MacFarlane and Alan Robinson have been friends for 60 years. When you've been friends that long, there's not a lot you don't know about each other.

Each in a separate search for their biological fathers, a family DNA matching website revealed they have something in common — the same mom.

"We kind of hmm'd and ah'd and then I said, 'Damn, I think you're my brother!'" Walter said, "It's just hard to fathom, it was so emotional."

This weekend they revealed the news to friends and family in Hawaii. A confusing tangle of branches coming together to form a family tree.  A tree that extends to Colorado.

You see the two friends-turned-brothers share a mother with former Manitou Police Chief Tom Gray.

"I'm happy for my brother and Alan," said Gray.

Tom and his wife Lee grew up on the islands and occasionally make it out there to visit his brother Walter. Now they live in Colorado Springs and Tom's brothers are making plans to visit him.

"The first trip they're going to make is they're going to come here," said Gray

The boys together again, but this time as brothers, something their late mother never got to see.

"I think she'd be pleased, the way this all turned out," said Gray.

When they get to Colorado they say they will take part in an old, yet new family tradition, eating Chinese food to celebrate.

Joel Hillan anchors CBS4 This Morning on weekends as well as reports stories for CBS4 News at 5 and 6 p.m. Follow Joel on Twitter @joelhillan.