Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Friends for life
Berks County women's longtime friendship is "pure gold."
They’ve shared their lives for more than 70 years, celebrating each other’s accomplishments, watching their children grow up and raise families of their own, laughing at each other’s jokes and consoling one another during times of disappointment and loss.
The four dear friends met for lunch recently, during which they caught up on what’s been happening in each other’s lives, recalled some fond memories and contemplated the future.
Nancy Bechtel of Reading, Sylvia Krallis of Flying Hills, Elaine Laws of Wyomissing and Shirley Templin of Shillington have been friends since they were seventh-graders, with Laws and Krallis’ friendship extending back to the third grade.
Now at 85 or 86 years old, their bond remains strong.
“There was never any doubt that we were there for other, and that’s still true,” Krallis said. “We’ve been througheverythingtogether.”
Krallis and Laws became friends when they were students at Reading School District’s Charles S. Foos Elementary School, which closed in 1979. They met Bechtel and Templin when they all started attending Northwest Junior High School.
They became a tight group, helping one another through their classes, attending dances at Calvary United Church of Christ on Centre Avenue, sleeping over at each other’s houses and forging together through Rainbow for Girls, a youth service organization
associated with the Masonic Lodge.
The friends separated for a time following their graduation from Reading High School in 1954. Laws and Krallis got married and accompanied their husbands, both of whom were serving in the military, to various locations in the United States and Europe. Bechtel and Templin remained in Reading, got married and started families.
A friendship like theirs was destined to survive, however, and when Laws and Krallis and their husbands returned to Reading, they picked up where they had left off.
“Everybody came home, and we raised our families together,” Templin said.
With their husbands and children, the friends had raking parties and picnics at each other’s houses. Together, they celebrated holidays, birthdays and graduations.
“We couldn’t afford to do
much when our kids were little, but we always had a lot of fun,” Laws said. “Everything we did together was good.”
Once their children were grown, the women and their husbands would meet once a month for dinner at one another’s homes. They welcomed grandchildren together, supported each other through tough times and simply enjoyed each other’s company.
“Our husbands all got along, and we’d just be together and have a good
Shirley Templin in her senior yearbook.
time,” Bechtel recalled.
Eventually, the friends coped with illness and loss together. Bechtel lost her husband, Bruce; Templin’s husband, Kenneth died; and Krallis’ husband, Peter, also passed away. Laws and her husband, Ronald, have been married for 67 years.
They supported each other through those losses and serious illnesses of their own. Bechtel recently moved from her home in Flying Hills, where she and Krallis were neighbors, to an assisted living facility.
“We’ve been through it all — through it all,” Templin said.
Reflecting upon their lives, the women agreed that a friendship like theirs is invaluable.
Krallis said her children, who do not live in this area, often ask her to move closer to them or into their homes.
“But I tell them I won’t move,” she said, looking at her friends. “I wouldn’t want to leave these three.”
All churchgoers, the women share a strong faith. Although they are wary
about the future for their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, they continue to hope for the best.
“It scares me a little to think about the future, but we can’t lose faith,” Laws said. “It’s in God’s hands.”
Meanwhile, she remains grateful.
“This friendship has fed us through some very tough times. It’s been absolutely a blessing to have each other,” Laws said. Templin agreed. “It’s pure gold,” she said. “Pure gold.”