Pen Pals From Warsaw, Wales Recall A 53-Year-Long Friendship
Pen Pals From Warsaw, Wales Recall A 53-Year-Long Friendship
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Pen Pals From Warsaw, Wales Recall A 53-Year-Long FriendshipDiana Stump and Jennifer Hughes are pen pals who live in different countries.
However, that has not stopped them from keeping in touch by writing letters to each other for the past 53 years.
Stump, who lives on a farm in Warsaw, and Hughes, who lives in Cardiff, Wales, have spent the past few weeks in Indiana getting to know each other in person.
They both are 63 years old, and have learned they have many common interests, and some differences.
Stump is employed at Kosciusko Community Hospital as a night supervisor, and Hughes worked in the secretarial field in Wales before retiring in March.
Stump has three siblings, while Hughes has two siblings.
The pen pals first met in person when Stump and her husband, William, traveled to Wales to meet Hughes five years ago. When Stump visited Hughes she visited the Cardiff Castle.
They met for the second time in person when Hughes arrived in Warsaw June 28, and Hughes will return to Wales Monday.
Hughes said she has had many new experiences in Indiana including seeing a black squirrel, riding on a pontoon and combine and seeing a buffalo and deer at a deer farm in Pierceton.
Hughes also saw lightning bugs and raccoons for the first time.
"We don't have black squirrels in Wales or raccoons and lightning bugs," Hughes said.
While visiting Indiana Hughes also saw a production at Wagon Wheel Theatre, visited Fort Wayne and saw fireworks over Winona Lake.
Although Stump and Hughes have communicated through writing letters for the past 53 years, it was not until five years ago they talked on the phone for the first time.
"It was just cheaper to write letters, the difference compared to now is that we didn't have e-mail and the Internet back then," Hughes said.
Although they have only met in person two times, the pen pals admit they feel like they have known each other for years.
They became pen pals when they were both 10 years old when there mothers saw an advertisement for pen pals in a magazine.
Stump's mother already had a pen pal from Scotland, but Hughes said she did not have relatives who had pen pals.
When asked who wrote the first letter they both laughed and said they couldn't remember because it has been so long.
They began writing every two weeks, but now with their busy schedules, they write once a month and talk on the phone on occasion.
"In the 1960s mail was sent by sea on a boat so it would take longer to get letters to each other," Hughes said.
Stump described herself as a country girl, and Hughes said she was a city girl.
When they were young Stump would write to Hughes about her love of riding horses, while Hughes would write about her tennis and swimming hobbies.
They both loved to write, play the piano and read books. Stump liked Nancy Drew books, while Hughes liked The Secret Seven books.
They both married their husbands in 1967. Stump has three children, while Hughes has two children.
Now that they are older they exchange recipes through the mail and talk about their families.
"Since I never had siblings Diana has become like a sister to me," Hughes said.
The pen pals said they will continue to write each other, and Stump hopes to visit Hughes in Wales again.
