Seventeen years after they shared a crib in a crowded Russian orphanage, two boys who were adopted by families in the U.S. will share a stage as they graduate from high school together.
Joe Mather and Scott Brown, who are not related, were adopted more than a decade ago from an orphanage in Kurgan, Russia, WNYT reported. The orphanage cared for about 100 other babies with scant resources.
"Those boys have endured a lot," Scott Brown's mother, Carol Brown, told the news station. "What kept those boys alive for the last few months (in the orphanage together) was pureed raisins and water."
Joe Mather and Scott Brown were adopted within a month of one another by families in Saratoga County, New York.
"People always say, 'Boy, you did a wonderful thing for him,'” Jodi Mather, Joe Mather’s mother, told WNYT. “No, he did a wonderful thing for us.”
The families learned about one another when the adoption process brought them together and became fast friends.
“Now they’re both graduating together and it seems like an almost unwritable story,” Scott Brown’s father, Steve Brown, told WNYT.
The boys will graduate June 22 from Balston Spa High School.
"I'd like to probably stay close with (Scott Brown),” Joe Mather told WNYT. “I think we will.”
Both boys said they plan to attend local community colleges after graduation.
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