LIBERTY Pen pals' stories continue to flow

A Liberty woman has had a pen pal for nearly 60 years.
By MARALINE KUBIK
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
LIBERTY -- When Nancy Reapsummer was in seventh grade, her teacher passed around a list of children looking for pen pals.
It was 1942, war was raging in Europe, and most of the names on the list were those of children from England, Wales and other European countries.
Reapsummer, now Welk, who attended North Avenue School in Girard, picked a name at random -- Valerie Holmes -- inadvertently opening the door to a family of friends who have weathered good times and bad together for nearly 60 years.
"Valerie and I were writing back and forth quite a bit in school; I'd say once every two or three weeks," Welk said.
Holmes lived with her father in Wales; her mother had died and she had no siblings.
Care packages: Many items that were plentiful in America weren't so easy to get where Holmes lived. So, Welk sent her pen pal packages filled with small gifts -- canned soup, crackers and soap. In return, Welk said, "She'd send me little cans of sweets."
Then, two years later, Holmes sent Welk the name of a woman in England who was looking for a pen pal. Norma Wilcox was 27 years older than Welk and studying to become a midwife.
Despite the age difference, Welk and Wilcox found plenty to write about and before long, were corresponding as frequently as Welk and Holmes.
In 1946, Holmes sent Welk another name and address, James Eyles, a soldier in the Royal Air Force. They, too, found plenty to write about, and corresponded often. Welk still has photographs of the plane Eyles flew.
By 1950, Welk and Eyles' exchange of letters dwindled, but the women continued to write to each other about everything from gardening to the major changes in their lives -- jobs, marriage and children.
Holmes married and had two boys; Wilcox traveled a lot, visiting relatives in Canada and Australia; and Welk married a boy she'd known in school, Robert Welk, and had two children.
Meeting: Thirty years after she'd written her first letter to the girl whose name she'd picked at random, Welk still hadn't met her long-distance friends.
She'd planned to go to Europe before she got married, but family needs usurped the cash she'd stashed away. After she married, the responsibilities of being a wife and mother took precedence.
Finally, an opportunity to spend a month touring England and Scotland arose. Welk's husband couldn't take time away from work, but her 13-year-old daughter, Judy, was eager to go.
Immediately, Welk wrote to her friends telling them the good news. She also wrote to Eyles even though she hadn't corresponded with him in years.
Holmes and Wilcox were delighted and made plans to meet Welk and take her and her daughter on personal tours of their cities.
Sad news: Welk also received news from Eyles' wife, Jill.
"Jim had died six weeks to the day that my letter arrived," Welk said. "But Jill wanted to meet us."
Welk and her daughter left for England in June 1973. They spent the first three weeks touring major cities. The final leg of their journey included stops in Bristol, England, to visit with Jill and her 9-year-old son, Simon; Wales to visit with Holmes; and Weston-super-Mare, England, to visit with Wilcox.
Jill Eyles and Welk became fast friends and agreed to begin corresponding. The friendships among Welk, Holmes and Wilcox grew even stronger after the women met face to face. In addition to the letters, they began telephoning each other a few times a year.
Today, Welk has lost touch with Holmes. But Wilcox and Jill Eyles are like family, sharing in each other's lives and world events.
"We send wedding gifts when someone in the family gets married," Welk said, and when a letter arrives, "it's like getting a letter from your sister."
"Simon is 37 now," she boasts, sounding more like a proud aunt than his mother's pen pal. "He's married, lives in Wales and is building a house in France."
Not visiting: Jill Eyles remarried and both she and her husband have experienced some health problems. Wilcox is not well either, Welk said. "So I don't think they will come here to visit us."
But, like family, Welk and her husband plan to visit them, hopefully next year, she said. She and Robert visited Jill Eyles in 1987 while touring England and Scotland with a group organized by the Dan Ryan radio show. They couldn't visit Wilcox then because she was visiting relatives in Canada.
Welk's relationships with her pen pals not only blossomed into lifelong friendships among the women, but also among their families.
Welk's daughter, Judy Rader of Howland, said she became a letter writer because of her mother's experience and has maintained friendships with her mom's pen pals and their extended families.
It's ironic, Rader reflected, that World War II triggered the exchange of pen pal names in her mother's school, and now the United States' and Great Britain's united effort to fight terrorism is providing plenty for the women to write about.
kubik@vindy.com