More Mail Bag matches
Readers remember the friendships they formed through the Monitor's old pen-pal column.
More Mail Bag matches
We asked readers to tell us about pen pals they found through the Monitor's Mail Bag column, which ran from 1929 to 1969. Here are some excerpts from a couple of your responses.
Many years ago when I was in college, I saw in the Monitor Mail Bag a letter from a German college student, and we began a correspondence. After Nordfrid married, his wife, Helga, took over the letter writing, and we are still in touch today. Nordfrid and Helga visited us when we lived in New Jersey, and we have visited them in Sweden, where they have lived for many years. Although Nordfrid has passed away, we continue to correspond with Helga. This lasting connection has added so much to all our lives, thanks to the Mail Bag!
Wanda Hughes
Mercer Island, Wash.
When I was a teenager, I sent my name to the Mail Bag hoping to find some new friends. I found two other teenagers like myself, and we followed one another's lives through marriage and children.
I have been corresponding with one of them – Vicky Wheeler (now Vicky Kerin) – for more than 50 years now. I remember meeting her for the first time at Niagara Falls. She was returning to California after a trip to Boston, and I was with my new husband.
Also, we spent a year abroad at the same time. I went to southern France, she to Denmark. We both became teachers. We both had children – and now have grandchildren – and we both adore babies. She is very crafty, and I sew. My husband and I have visited Vicky and her husband in California and Oregon, and they've visited us in Ontario.
We have virtually become sisters. I think we are even more faithful in our correspondence now than we were in earlier years. Our husbands get along just great and that makes us a pretty happy group when touring together. What fun it has been reading about the friendships established due to this wonderful idea of the Mail Bag.
Diane Wolfe
Caledon, Ontario
• Send your Mail Bag story to earth@csmonitor.com or to Mail Bag – Home Forum, The Christian Science Monitor, 210 Massachusetts Ave., P02-30, Boston, MA 02115.