Australian twins have been writing to their pen pals for 80 years
Identical twins Dulcie Grose and Nancie Varley have been exchanging letters with their pen pals, who just happen to also be twins, for over 80 years.
The Sydney twins sent the first letter to pen pals Barbara and Beatrice Boyce in 1935 after a Sydney radio station host “Aunty Val” offered to take their letters to Los Angeles to find them pen pals.
Ms Varley told 702 ABC Sydney, “I have one very large cardboard carton full of letters and photographs taken over the 80 years.
"It makes for very interesting reading, especially the childhood ones.
"The first letter asked me if I knew Shirley Temple? And of course I [did].
"The letters have been extremely interesting, especially over the war years.”
The twins exchanged letters about their life for five decades before they met for the first time in Sydney in 1985.
"We've had so many photographs of them, that when they came down the stairs at the airport I recognised them straight away," Dulcie said.
"We're still going. I received three letters in the last month."
The penchant for letter writing has passed onto the next generations. Dulcie’s daughter Heather Archbold has been pen pals with Beatrice’s daughter, Gail, since she was eight. The two have been exchanging letters for over 50 years, although they lost contact at one stage, before reconnecting on email and Facebook.
Despite the advent of faster communication methods, Nancie still believes that there is something special about old-fashioned letter writing.
"I also think these days they don't know how to spell either," she told ABC.
"That was a very strong topic when we were in school – you had to know your grammar."
And the twins advice for the keeping a pen pal for 80 years?
"Answering your letters," said Dulcie, laughing heartily.
Source: 702 ABC Sydney
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