A FRIENDSHIP which has lasted 52 years and spanned across two countries has made Margaret River resident June Page the envy of her friends.
In 1963 during a boring weekend with friends, a group of teenagers to decided to have pen pals.
Mrs Page said one of her friend’s wrote to Japan and she wrote to Switzerland.
“I found Switzerland fascinating” she said.
She addressed to “any 14 to 16 year old boy from Luzern Switzerland”.
Mrs Page could not believe when she received a reply from a teenager called Marcus.
She said her letter had been given to a school teacher who then asked his class “who wants to write to someone in Australia”.
Not even Marcus understood why he decided to put his hand up because “he hated writing”.
However, apathy towards writing stopped for Marcus as he and Mrs Page wrote regularly to each other until about 1967.
Mrs Page said she was always so excited to get his letter in the mail.
“He would always write, ‘thanks for the many many pretty letters’” she said.
“I was the envy of my friends because they never kept up with their pen pals.
“We never talked about visiting each other, it always seemed impossible – seeing snow was such a dream for me.”
The writing was the put on hold by the pair when they carried away with being engaged, married and having children.
“Somehow after I had the twins I found time to pick up the pen again,” she said.
What Mrs Page got in reply was a surprise, it was a letter from Marcus’ wife Heidi.
So another friendship began as they shared stories of motherhood.
Since then they have both visited their home countries with Mrs Page finally being able to see snow.
“I probably would never have seen Switzerland if it wasn’t for knowing Marcus,” she said.
The pen pals have moved into the 21st century and no longer hand write but email but there is still contact.
Mrs Page said Marcus’ daughter Raphaela has brought her children to Australia and would be meeting up with her this week.
She said she was very excited to see them and hoped Marcus’ grand children would start up the pen pal relationship with her grand children.
Mrs Page said she could not believe her friendship with Marcus had last this long but felt very lucky.
“It is just a lovely story, we fitted in so well with each other,” she said.
