TWINS APPROACH 80TH YEAR WITH DIFFERENT LOOKS, OUTLOOKS

Gib Dreyer, left, and Erwin typically dressed alike until soon after this photo was taken following their church confirmation in 1929.

Gib and Erwin Dreyer, top, posed at a young age with their cousins, the Hollomans, who also were twins.

Almost 80 years ago, the Dreyer twins and five older brothers and an older sister were helping their parents with the southern Perry County farm near Frohna. But soon after entering their teens, the twins went their separate ways and haven't seen much of each other since.

Erwin Dreyer said he left home at 15 and went to work in Shawneetown.

"There just wasn't enough work for me around the farm," he said.

His brother, Gib, stayed behind, tending to the farm and his ailing father with some help from a younger sister.

Erwin and Gib were the youngest boys in the family. Today they are the sole surviving siblings.

Erwin Dreyer lives in Cape Girardeau, and Gilbert "Gib" Dreyer lives near the family farm in Frohna.

Neither twin said a special bond exists between them.

They don't feel each others' pains and don't share any extra-sensory perceptions. The twin brothers haven't even posed for a picture together in almost 20 years.

"We were compared to each other growing up, but that didn't last long," Gib said.

Their parents dressed them similarly for many years even though the Dreyers aren't identical twins. They are fraternal.

Erwin said one of the last times he and his brother dressed alike was when they were confirmed into the Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. That was 1929.

Gib said four or five sets of twins have existed throughout the extended family. He said twins were common in many of his relatives' immediate families.

"We would get together sometimes with Walter and Leo Holloman," said Gib. "They were twin first-cousins of ours who lived in Jacob, Ill. There are a few other sets of twins too."

Erwin and Gib don't know much about their births or their father, a German immigrant.

"We don't know who was born first," Edwin said. "We didn't ask and no one ever told us."

Erwin and Gib agreed that their father wasn't partial to talking about his life or family history. Gib said it wasn't until he went to Germany in the late 1970s and located relatives who told him why his father left the country.

"He never told us why he came over to this country or where his family was from," he said. "He just didn't talk about that. But they said there wasn't enough work for him there."

The Dreyers share their father's reserved nature when it comes to talking to each other.

Gib and Erwin said they don't talk very often even though they live 40 minutes apart.

But even though Erwin and Gib don't have much contact with each other, they have lived similar lives.

Both men were married for many years until their wives died. Erwin has since remarried,

They were members of the Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna for years until Erwin moved to Cape Girardeau. He now attends St. Andrew Lutheran Church. Both men have had active memberships in their churches.

Both men also like working in their wood shops and tinkering with odds and ends.

But on May 28, the men will get together to celebrate their birthdays with their family.

Family members say it has been 20 years since the two brothers were last photographed together. It is about time for another picture.