A 1940s photo of the Argentine actors known as the Legrand sisters. No public domain photos available of the sisters featured in the "Times" story.

Bob Pool of the Los Angeles Times reports on Inez Harries and Venice Shaw, twin sisters in California who are celebrating their 100th birthdays this Sunday–together, of course. These women remained close and share similar lives and tastes, but even twins who are separated at birth seem to have much in common despite the different stimuli they experience. Nature is a fierce thing, even in the face of nurture. An excerpt:

“Born Jan. 15, 1911, in Pasadena to citrus ranch manager William Hesser and his wife, Anna, the twins were reared in San Fernando and later in what is now Granada Hills. The family also lived in Whittier for a time.

Harries is now a Sylmar resident and Shaw lives in Newbury Park.

Inseparable as young children, the twins dressed alike, double-dated as teenagers and worked at the same Sunkist packing house as young adults. Later, after both were married, the two couples vacationed together on camping trips to such places as Yosemite and Kings Canyon national parks.

Family photos show them dressed in identical baby clothes and in matching dresses, sewn by their mother, in elementary school and high school — their San Fernando High School senior portrait from 1929 shows them wearing identical pink polka-dot outfits.

In grade school, the pair had the same friends — at the same time. They would pick one girl and Inez would be on one side of her and Venice on the other, they recall.

‘Other kids called us ‘Twinny’ rather than make a mistake calling us the wrong name,’  Harries said.”