The Gassaway Twins, Mrs. Dona Gassaway Mitchell and Ms. Rona Gassaway Jackson, are 52-year-old identical twins born and raised in Dallas. Both women are educators in Dallas County, as well as performers, artists, and writers. Preparing to celebrate National Twins Day on Aug. 3, this week they announced plans for a new project. Together will release a new book in 2019 to answer many of the common questions, others have about life as a twin.
“Our similar values include God first and quality time with family. Family time is important to us. Not only are we both mothers of three, but we are grandmothers and spend quality time with all grandchildren,” the ladies shared via email to the North Dallas Gazette.”Even though people cannot tell us apart, the most adorable moments of confusion rest in the expressions of our children and grandchildren as babies until preschool age when they realized we both look alike and didn’t understand twins. They felt they had two moms and two grandmothers. We were called mama and the other mama, granny and the other granny or nana and the other nana,” according to the twins.
Their plans for the fall include visual art projects are an upcoming art exhibit and donations of their art pieces to several nursing homes in the Dallas area.
“Our talents include visual and performing arts and literature. As visual artists, we enjoy charcoal and acrylic for more reasons than pleasure and relaxation,” according to the ladies. Performing art is a talent they enjoy because of their love for acting, mainly comedies.
The upcoming book will share life from the eyes of twins in hope to answer questions people often ask twins. They plan to create all of the illustrations for the project using various forms of media. The duo has also written poetry and music together. While they enjoy working together, they also have separately pursued individual projects including screenplays and books.
Giving back to the community is a hallmark of their collaboration. Previously the North Dallas Gazette spotlighted the twins in March 2016 for their partnership with Buckner International when they hosted a shoe drive.
The ladies are not the first twins in the Gassaway family. Their late father Reverend E.B. Gassaway, who passed away in 2012, was also an identical twin to their uncle Reverend J.B. Gassaway, who passed away in June. They were twins of a twin as well. As their late grandfather had a twin. According to the elders of the family, the Gassaway’s contained many sets of twins’ throughout the family’s history.
For more information, you can find the ladies as the Gassaway Twins on Facebook and Pinterest.
