When I was in about 7th grade, I started writing to a pen pal named Carol in Hamilton, Ontario. I honestly cannot remember how we met, I’m sure it was through a magazine set up. It was really fun being able to expect letters in the mail. We corresponded for just a few years, maybe through high school and then stopped. I still think about her and wonder where she is.
Did you have this experience? Did you ever meet up?
I found my pen pals from the magazine listing for pen pals; do not remember what magazine though. We never met and I think I only did this for a few years; maybe 7th-9th grade. We never met and for the life of me, I can not even remember where they lived, although I am pretty sure they were both in the US.
My aunt (now 85 years old) got a pen pal when she was in elementary school. The girl lived in England and they corresponded throughout WWII - in retrospect, that must have been a fascinating exchange of letters between a couple of schoolgirls. They remained in touch and in the mid-70s, my aunt flew to England to meet her pen pal after all those years. My aunt is terrified of airplanes and this was the only time she has ever flown in her life! Anyway, they kept in touch on and off all their lives. I think the pen pal died a few years ago and my aunt now has dementia, so sadly the correspondence has ended. I think it is a pretty cool relationship to have maintained all those years, long before technology and social media made it easy to do so.
@snowball LOL at your profile picture – love it!
When I was 10 years old, we were on the first leg of a cross country trip and had stopped at a campground outside New Orleans. I befriended a girl from California while swimming in the campground pool. We exchanged addresses, as both families were departing the next day. We have been writing ever since (44years ago!). She has since relocated to Florida. One of these days I am sure we will get together in person again. Until then, we are pen pals through thick and thin! We are not on Facebook and don’t email or text - just old-fashioned letters and cards.
Sachiko Uikuso. Can’t remember the spelling of the last name. Mr Payne my 4th 5th grade teacher exchanged names with a Japanese teacher. She got to visit and stay with my family for a week. We went to San Francisco. I still can’t believe her family allowed her to visit. I used to send her teen magazines. She could read and write English but couldn’t understand or speak so we did lots of writing when we were together. I lost interest / was busy in college so my younger sister took over. Then sister got busy and her good friend Wayne became pen pals. I heard she became a flight attendant and married the brother of her Canadian pen pal. She once had a layover in San Francisco and gave my aunt a doll to give me. Thanks for the good memories
My very good friend that I met in 7th grade moved to LA after 9th grade. She and I became penpals and have remained close all these decades. We did call and have visited back in forth, including having vacations together–with our respective spouses and kids. We have been friends for many, many decades and they were our kids’ emergency contacts in college.
The other friend I also made in 7th grade lives in NM (moved there after college) and we have corresponded, called and visited back and forth. We are NOT Facebook friends but we stay in touch and I consider us close.
I guess we aren’t strictly pen pals, but we are apart more than together and have been this way must if our lives.
A Danish family lived in my parent’s apartment building (~1960) and then returned to Denmark to live and work. The parents stayed in touch and set me up as a pen pal with the oldest daughter. I visited her in Denmark for ~6 weeks when I was 15, and the following year she came to the US to stay with me and my family. Our mothers stayed in touch, and my pen pal and I have loosely remained in touch, more so in recent years via email.
How life comes full circle - DS worked in Copenhagen for a year, and pen pal and her family had him to dinner and helped him move once. At the end of DS’s time in Copenhegen, DH and I visited DS. I invited my mom to join us. Mom was able to see her Danish friend again after so many years. As they said their goodbyes, I think that both knew that was the last time they would ever see one another. Sure enough, only 6 months later, Mom became ill very unexpectedly and passed away.
This thread reminds me that I owe my own pal an email. Thanks!
Oh wow, what a fun thread ! I had so many pen pals when I was a teen. Some of them I met when on vacations in Bermuda, some I met because they spent time where I grew upon the summers and some were older friends that went off to college while I was still in high school…even a couple of puppy loves 
One of the puppy loves turned out to be a long time friend , with gaps here and there where we lost touch.
We keep in touch via Facebook now and I think we will see each other one of these days. He got married late in life and has a young daughter with his wife.
I recall having some pen pals that we exchanged our friends names and addresses to share and write to as well….somewhere in storage, I have a box full of old letters. Maybe I should dig them out for fun !
I still remember one of the addresses too
I went to Blue lake Fine Arts camp in the summer in Michigan in 7th and 8th grade. I had a number of pen pals for a couple of years. Then we all lost interest… years later when I was in my late 30’s and lived in Illinois, I went to get my hair cut at a different place . One of my old pen pals ended up being the one who cut my hair that day. I went back to her a number of times until we moved to Georgia. I have to say it’s kind weird how small the world really is.
From 2nd grade all the way post college. We were hooked up through a church publication. We really grew up together even though over 1500 miles apart. We never met. My first trip to her area of the country occurred when I was early twenties - I wrote and asked if she’d like to get together, but never received an answer or heard from her again. I don’t take it personally, but do wonder if she ever received that letter.