One day, an 11-year-old girl in Calgary, Alberta, opened her Girl Guide magazine and chose the name of a 12-year-old girl living in Empire Corners, Ontario. She wrote her a letter asking if they could be penpals. Little did they realize this was the first step of a friendship that would defy time, distance, and span over 50 years.
Today, Maureen Kadatz lives in Red Deer, Alberta and her penpal is Cheryl Coate, now residing in Hagersville. Their penpal friendship began with handwritten letters sent via Canada Post. They never telephoned each other as it was expensive to call long distance at the time. Once they were teenagers, they exchanged a few cassette tapes so they could at least hear each other’s voice. It wasn’t until Maureen’s wedding that the two met face-to-face for the first time. Cheryl boarded an Air Canada flight from Toronto, her very first trip on an airplane, to spend a week in Calgary with Maureen before she got married. Cheryl was treated to a whirlwind tour of Alberta. Maureen chuckled as she recalled Cheryl wildly snapping pictures as they approached the Rocky Mountains for the first time, only to realize they were still an hour away!
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