By CHRISTOPHER VAUGHAN
the Georgian
It was 1940, and ten-year-old Bay St. George resident Anne Dennis thought it might be fun to make some long-distance friends.
She placed an ad for pen pals in the children’s section of the Family Herald, a weekly newspaper read by people throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and across Canada.
“In Ontario, my father got the newspaper and I saw her name,” said Ida Vsetula. “Her birthday is in January and mine is in May of the same year, so I thought, ‘Oh, the same age as me,’ so I wrote her back.”
The pair began writing letters to each other on a regular basis.
“I actually had about seven penpals, but I dropped all the rest and kept up with Ida,” said Anne. “We just kept writing to each other.”
As their lives progressed, the letter-writing friends discovered they had much in common.
“We got married the same year, we had our first children within months of each other and we had our second children within months of each other,” said Ida.
Anne went on to have a third child, but the ladies’ lives again took a similar direction.
“Our marriage broke up at about the same time,” Ida continued. “I remarried in ’87 and Anne remarried in ’89.”
Face-to-face
Anne and Ida have met several times over the years, beginning in the 1970s. Ida said it was on the first visit to see Anne in Newfoundland that she realized how much alike they really were.
“I get at her house, and I noticed we used the same toothpaste, we had the same picture in our bedrooms, there was just so much that we did the same, it was kind of mind boggling,” said Ida. “Our lives were so parallel all the way along.”
Which is not to say there weren’t a few shockers during their get-togethers.
Ida remembered a balmy trip Anne made to Ontario during the summer of 1977.
“She came up with long sleeves, expecting Newfoundland weather, and where do I take her? A hothouse,” recalled Ida, with a chuckle.
“One of my biggest surprises when I first visited Anne was seeing the ocean. I don’t swim, so I stuck my toe in the ocean and had a picture taken.”
All the news
The pair reunited last week in Stephenville, when Anne and her sister, Myrna, drove from Ontario to this province. Even after all the years of exchanging letters and paying each other visits, the pair still have plenty to write and talk about.
“We talk about our children and our grandchildren now, and great-grandchildren,” said Anne.
“We just pick up where we left off … I guess we know enough about each other that it’s like we’re next door neighbours,” added Ida.
And while the pair continues to send hand-written letters with Christmas cards, the Internet has become their main form of communication.
“We kind of caught up with the 21st century,” said Ida. “We actually have more contact now that we have computers. We’ll forward something cute or something interesting, even jokes.”
The ladies said they both enjoy the long-distance friendship and will keep it up for many years to come.
“There must be something, because I love hearing from her,” said Ida. “It’s that connection, I actually love the idea of having a pen pal so far away.”
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