Friendship in words spans 60 years
Alyssa Fritzlaff
by
Not many people can say they have had a close friend for almost 60 years - let alone one they have only met in person four times.
But for Perth woman Jennifer (Jen) Clark and Canadian Lesley Sonnen, who met up in Drouin last month, it is a reality.
They have maintained contact with each other for almost 60 years, sending messages and gifts across the globe.
The pair began writing letters to each other in the mid-1960s after Lesely reached out to an Australian boy named Don who had requested a pen pal in a Canadian newspaper.
Don, however, was inundated by letters and passed some on to other children. A girl named Karen received Lesley’s letter and passed it with three other children’s letters to Jen.
“Lesley’s shone out of the other two... it was the most beautiful writing. And of course, the content of what she said. She wrote a lot more,” Jen recalled.
“She was the obvious choice for me.”
After their first contact the two continued writing, telling each other about their lives, friends and families.
“They (the letters) were thick, I mean, it would be 12 to 20 pages long...as kids, you know, there was a lot going on in our lives,” Lesley said.
“We got to know a lot about each other and our families through the stories that we told.”
Letters continued to be sent back and forth, but it was not until 1987 that the writers would finally meet in person.
“I was about 36, mum and dad were able to shout me to meet Leslie over in her wonderful Alberta province in Canada,” Jen said.
“The girl that offered me the three letters, Karen...I happened to bump into her in a grocery store about three months before I was due to fly out.”
“She was gobsmacked because she had only lasted 18 months with her pen pal.”
Lesley showed Jen around her hometown and other parts of Canada during her visit including the famous Banff National Park.
One of Lesley’s favourite memories of Jen from that time was introducing her to snow for the first time near Lake Louise.
“There wasn’t a lot of snow because it was summer, there were only patches here and there.”
“But she climbed up and she was obviously thrilled - I think she brought a chunk back down.”
The next time the pair met was in 2009 when Lesley gifted herself a trip to celebrate her retirement from teaching.
Lesley’s daughter had moved to New Zealand, and she planned on visiting her, so it made sense to visit Jen at the same time.
“We had a wonderful week at my place... we ended up being in a yacht race - a practice yacht race,” Jen explained.
“We were just sitting there screaming, loving every single minute of it. It was absolutely thrilling,” Lesley added.
The last time Lesley and Jen met was in 2014 when they came together in Brisbane to enjoy the sun and the surf.
Throughout the years the pair have continued to write and send cards across the globe. However, most of their communication in recent years has been by email.
They often trade calendars but admit effort has been required to maintain contact for so long.
Lesley said the difference between their relationship and others was that when she and Jen connect they “sit down and take time to write something that is much longer than what you would normally write friends.”
“Like anything, you make time if something is important to you,” Jen added.
In 2019 Lesley’s daughter Connor moved to Australia and purchased a property Drouin, which would serve as the next meeting place for the long-time pen pals.
Jen flew across in late March to see Lesley, who had travelled to Australia sometime earlier to spend four months with her daughter. They enjoyed reconnecting, enjoying the country atmosphere and visiting Farm World and Yarragon Village.
While a date has not been set for the two to meet again, they plan to come together again when possible and, in the meantime, will continue to write.