OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) – Two pen pals that started corresponding in 1977 with a seventh grade project met for the first time after almost 40 years of communication.
The Oakland Tribune reports that LaNor Smith of Livermore began writing Heather Downey in Australia as a project for Spanish class.
The two continued to write through middle and high school, then through college. Letters shifted to email and Facebook as the two aged. Christmas gifts, photos, and sympathy cards were exchanged as family members got married, had children and some died.
The women had prior chances to meet that never came to fruition. Both tried to attend each other’s weddings but health issues got in the way.
Smith said she always knew the two would meet, she just thought it would be sooner.