Chance encounter: Siblings meet for first time on Hawaii beach

Rick Hill and his family knew they would have a great time on their vacation in Hawaii. What he couldn't have imagined is that a last-minute stop at Waikiki Beach last Monday would turn into a tearful encounter.

Hill, his fiancee Maureen Howe and their three children stopped to take a family snapshot on the beach. A stranger approached them and offered to take the picture.

Instead of telling Hill's family to say "cheese," the man told them to say "Leominster."

The photographer, Joe Parker, had recognized Hill and his fiancee's accents and used the name of the Massachusetts town he used to live in to signal their connection. Hill and Howe were stunned — they live in the nearby town of Lunenburg.

Parker had relocated to Hawaii to escape a tough upbringing and failed relationship and was working as a resort event planner.

Hill and Parker quickly began throwing out names of friends and acquaintances they might have in common. Parker suggested a Dickie Halligan.

Hill knew the name very well. Dickie Halligan is his father.

Parker was taken aback. Dickie Halligan is his father, too.

Six thousand miles from where they grew up, the half brothers met — and hugged — for the first time.

"I can't really put it into words," Parker told Boston.com. "If I had to, I would say it was chilling, paralyzing and an out-of-body experience all at once."

Parker was raised in the foster-care system and rarely saw Halligan, a man he assumed was his uncle until he was 21. It was only in young adulthood that he discovered that he had a half brother.

Hill's mother divorced Halligan when Hill was an infant. Hill knew his father, and bonded with him before his death in 2002.

The brothers' chance encounter on the beach led to laughter, tears, and storytelling. The pair spent the days following together, with the family celebrating Hill's birthday together on Easter Sunday.

"This was such an extreme coincidence the way it happened. What are the odds, one in a million? But Joe found family with us, and my kids love him," Hill told the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

(Photo credit: Lucy Pemoni/Getty Images)