`This Is The Time We're Going To Be Dying,' Says Little Twin

CRANSTON, R.I. - For seven years, Ruthie and Verena Cady were never alone. When Ruthie died, Verena, knowing she could not live without her Siamese twin, spent her final 15 minutes planning her funeral.

"Verena said to go get Daddy and she gave me a list of friends she wanted to give flowers to. She asked to be cremated because she didn't want to be in a box, she wanted to be free," said Marlene Cady, their mother. The twins died Friday.

"Ruthie died 15 minutes ahead of Verena," she said. "Verena talked about the whole thing. She said, `This is the time we're going to be dying.' "

Most Siamese, or conjoined, twins die at birth. Doctors had told Cady and her husband, Peter, that it would be a miracle if the girls survived a year.

Ruthie's lungs deteriorated over the past several weeks, said Marlene Cady, who wrote a 1989 cover story about the twins for People magazine. She said the girls lived a happy life.

"They had two completely different personalities, but they complemented each other," Cady said.

They compromised by alternating days on which each made the major decisions. "When you can't get away from the person you're arguing with, you solve it quickly," she said. "They never got discouraged. They just kept trying harder. We can do absolutely anything if we set our minds to it and if we give ourselves the courage to do it."

The twins were connected from the sternum to the navel. Doctors could not separate them because they shared a heart, which had three chambers instead of the normal four. They also shared a liver and parts of the intestines.

Sharing a heart also made the girls more susceptible to infection than most children.

The twins, born in Durango, Colo., studied at an elementary school and sang in a church choir. Their favorite activity was biking on a custom two-seat tricycle that let one pedal and the other relax, their parents said.

They looked alike and wore identical outfits that their mother stitched together.

During their first two years, the twins had trouble sleeping because Durango's 6,500-foot elevation made breathing difficult. The family moved to Rhode Island, where Peter Cady was offered a college teaching job. Marlene Cady is studying to become a counselor.

Besides their parents, the girls are survived by a sister, Maria, 9, and grandparents.