OVERSEAS FRIENDSHIP
Accidental email pen pals form intercontinental bond during a hard time
If you told Longmont resident Barbara Jelniker three years ago that she would become close friends with a woman in Scotland, Jelniker said she “wouldn’t believe it.”
Now, Jelniker has a handful of happy memories from her trip to Scotland last month to meet her email pen pal, Alice Maclean.
“She’s very outgoing, warm, and loving,” Jelniker said. “We just clicked.”
Jelniker, 84, and Maclean, 75, connected in an unconventional way. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was just beginning, Jelniker intended to send a thank-you note via email to a woman in Fort Worth, Texas. Jelinker got one letter of the address wrong, however, and four days later she received an email response from Maclean.
“It said, ‘My dear Barbara, I’m not the Alice you’re trying to thank,’” Jelniker said.
Instead of the exchange ending there, Jelniker and Maclean began comparing notes on how their respective countries were handling the pandemic and gradually opened up to each other about their personal lives.
“We became very good friends through the interaction,” Jelniker said. “She was losing her brother and she knew my brother was sick, so we had a common bond there.”
Jelniker and Maclean keep in touch with each other through email updates once a week. Jelniker said she occasionally prints out Maclean’s emails and keeps a stack of them.
In mid-august, Jelniker traveled to the picturesque village of Balloch, Scotland, where she was hosted by Maclean and her family. Jelniker said one of her highlights was visiting Loch Lomond, a lake she had expressed a desire to see over email.
Jelniker and Maclean never spoke to each other over the phone; the first time they heard what each other sounded like was when they met in person. “Now I can hear her voice when I read her emails,” Jelniker said.
Karen Wood, a Longmont resident and family friend of Jelniker’s, joined Jelniker on her trip across the pond. Wood said she and Jelniker were already planning to travel to Ireland this year and realized that it would be the perfect opportunity to visit Maclean in Scotland.
“It was such a unique situation, so I said that we’ve got to meet her,” Wood said.
Wood said Maclean was welcoming to the Longmont women. It felt as if they had all known each other for a long time, she said.
In an email, Maclean wrote that it was “delightful” to meet Barbara after their 2½ years of correspondence. She wrote that her family was proud to show “the best of Scottish scenery” to their American guests.
“We hugged each other for ages like old friends when we met,” Maclean wrote. “Barbara was everything I expected her to be and even more.”
Maclean wrote that she would love to visit Colorado one day but is deterred by her fear of flying long distances. Maclean did not completely discount the possibility, however.
“I might just find the courage to make the trip,” she wrote. “I have no doubt that I would be welcomed with open arms by Barbara and Karen.”