JENISON, Michigan — With modern technology, we live in an age of the instant and fleeting. But from her chair at the nursing home, 90-year-old Dottie Dooley holds onto the permanent – ink.
“Well, it was at the end of the Second World War," said Dottie, holding a shoebox full of faded letters. “Things were getting back to normal in the United States. It was seventh grade and I was about 12."
In a world torn apart by war, you can hardly expect a class of middle schoolers to start piecing it together. But Dottie’s English and Social Studies teacher, Mrs. May Horn, had an idea.
“I don't know how she knew the teacher in England, but she arranged with this teacher that the two of them would have their classes have pen pals," said Dottie.
Dottie, just 12 years old, wrote a letter to an English girl named Pat Todd. And then, 78 years passed, and they haven't stopped.
“Most of the students did it for the year," said Dottie. "Most of them did not continue like we did.”
They were strangers brought together by strange times.
“It certainly, certainly gave me idea of what they went through," said Dottie. “Although the main bombing and the destruction and everything was behind them, they still had a lot of issues regarding the war.”
Dottie was a Girl Scout, while Pat was a Girl Guide Brownie working up to her Scout status. As she finally reached her scout ceremony, it was canceled because of bombings in Ipswich, where Pat lived.
Despite it all, they were middle school girls—from their opposite sides of the ocean, the same and different.
“She loved movie stars, and she loved collecting pictures of them. American movie stars, too. So anytime I find a magazine with movie stuff, I would send them to her and she absolutely loved it," said Dottie. “We liked romance and things like that.”
Dottie took to sending Pat care packages to cheer her up. She once sent her a necklace, but England was so regulated that Pat had to pay 80% duty for it.
Food was one item that was safe for Dottie to send. She once received a letter from Pat's mom, thanking her for it.
“Please thank your parents for the delicious parcel received this morning," Dottie read from the letter. "Believe me, the cans contain some rare deliveries such as I have not seen in the country for years. The sugar and fat, I shall hoard."
Over eight decades, Dot and Pat grew up. Both got married and Dottie had four kids.
Childhood crushes soon shifted to matters more serious.
“She wrote and told me her husband died," Dottie said, holding a funeral card mailed by Pat. "That was a sad one, of course."
It was just a few years after Dottie's husband passed, too.
“She said that she still misses him a lot and that she can she knows that I can understand how she feels," she said. “We would write and encourage each other, sort of like, maybe like sisters.”
Then, this year, their traditional back and forth of ink and paper suddenly became radio silence.
"Well," Dottie said, tearing up. "I assumed that she was gone. I hadn't heard from her for quite a while.”
After no response, she sent Pat a birthday card. She figured if something happened, it would come back marked 'return to sender.'
Then, out of the blue, came a letter postmarked with a stamp of red—straight from across the pond.
“Well, I cried," Dottie said, through tears. “I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it.”
It was a letter from Pat’s caregiver. At 93, Pat is now bedridden and unable to write. It was signed off with a phone number.
So, their age-old correspondence was finally forced to enter the modern world.
Dottie fiddled with the phone nervously while it rang. When a woman with a British accent picked up, she introduced herself as "Dottie Dooley from Michigan!"
Pat responded, "oh, how lovely!"
“Sometimes on paper, you can identify how a person is, but she was very much Pat," Dottie smiled at the memory of the phone call.
"How long have we been writing now?" Pat asked on the phone.
“78 years!” Dottie said.
“Not many people have been friends that long," said Pat.
“And its been a treat, Pat, it’s been a treat," Dottie smiled.
In this modern world, we often live for the instant and fleeting. But Dottie and Pat’s story proves friendships this genuine could still be sincerely yours.
“I realized that I'm getting near the end of my life," Dottie said, full of emotion. “This has just been a wonderful experience, and I cherish it.”