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H
eather Archbold treasures
the childhood memories
of her mother Dulcie and
aunt Nancie – Dulcie’s
identical twin sister – writing to
penpals on the other side of the
world. Their penpals were also
twin sisters, with whom they’ve
remained in regular handwritten
contact for eight decades.
In Heather’s family, swapping tales
of life’s highs and lows with penpals
overseas has become a custom
spanning the generations. For the art
of corresponding is a tradition that
Heather, 65 – now mother of three
and grandmother of six – also
happily carries on.
When Heather was nine years old
she began writing to Gail, Nancie’s
penfriend’s daughter, but the pair
later lost contact. They reconnected
10 years ago via Facebook [Gail
now lives in Portland, Oregon] and
email each other regularly. And
Heather’s daughter Kathy, now 31,
has become close friends with Gail’s
daughter-in-law Tara.
It all began in 1935, when Dulcie
and Nancie sent letters to a Sydney
radio station after its resident
host Aunty Val offered to take her
listener’s mail to the US in a bid
to find penpals for them.“A radio program in Los Angeles
was putting Sydney listeners in
contact with their listeners, and
Dulcie and Nancie wrote without
expectation,” Heather says. “They
never imagined that Aunty Val
would be able to find them twins
to write to.
“So when the call came in that she
had found them twins, who were
only three weeks apart from them
in age, they were ecstatic.”
While Dulcie wrote to a young
woman by the name of Beatrice,
Nancie sent her letters to Beatrice’s
twin Barbara. And it was the
beginning of a special friendship.
Over the years, the bond between
the four women deepened as they
swapped stories about everything
from school and family holidays
to husbands and children.
“Both Mum and aunt were girl
guides, and so were their penpals,”
Heather says. “They wrote about
their experiences, and dancing and
even ice-skating.”
Heather loved it when her mother
would share the mail with her.
“She read several letters to us over
the years, and even showed
us the autograph
of American actor
Van Johnson that theywere sent,” she remembers. “Nancie
once told me how much Barbara and
Beatrice loved to watch films. They
were seeing a film a week and were
Shirley Temple fans.”
Half a century after they began
writing to each other, Dulcie finally
met Beatrice when she visited
Sydney. Not surprisingly, after years
of swapping photos of each other,
they instantly recognised each other.
“Mum said it was such a magical
moment,” Heather says. “A similar
scene played out when Barbara came
to see my aunt. It was a special
moment for them, too.”
Meanwhile, Heather was writing
letters to Barbara’s daughter Gail,
who’s only one year younger than
Heather. In her first of many
bi-monthly letters, which Heather
still has today, Gail wrote: I have
a pet beagle, cat and canary. Do you
have any pets?N T URUURREESS
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