Springfield resident and 7th-grade pen pal still writing, 64 years later

Springfield resident Jeanette Richardson, 77, received a visit in September from an old friend. But this is no ordinary friendship: The two girls first got to know each other 64 years ago, through a school pen-pal program in 1953.

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2017-11-08 / Front Page Springfield resident and 7th-grade pen pal still writing, 64 years later By TORY DENIS Sandra Gray, left, visits in Springfield with longtime pen pal Jeanette Richardson. Sandra Gray, left, visits in Springfield with longtime pen pal Jeanette Richardson. SPRINGFIELD — Springfield resident Jeanette Richardson, 77, received a visit in September from an old friend. But this is no ordinary friendship: The two girls first got to know each other 64 years ago, through a school pen-pal program in 1953, when they were both in the seventh grade — one in Vermont, the other in Virginia. They have been writing and visiting one another ever since. Richardson’s pen pal, Sandra Gray (now Sandra Douglas) was a middle-school student in Norfolk, Virginia at the time, and now lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The two friends had not seen each other in 16 years, and were reunited a few weeks ago when Douglas made the trip to Springfield with her husband Donald. “She is like a sister to me,” Richardson said. “She is one of my best friends.” Richardson said the school project is how they initially met, through letters, and that her friend once tried to visit when they were younger but the visit didn’t work out. But it was 23 years before they met in person for the first time, when Richardson stopped in Virginia on a road trip to Florida, she said. When she arrived in Virginia on that trip, she “made a lot of phone calls,” and the two finally connected, she said. They have kept in touch all along, with occasional trips to visit one another. Douglas eventually became a school teacher. The two friends both ended up having three children each, and those children have since gotten to know each other as well, Richardson said. The long-distance friends send one another letters, emails, and small gifts from time to time, she said. They still remain “pen pals” to this day.