SPALDING, Sask. – “Miss you already” appears in the subject line of recent e-mails on Helen Beasley’s laptop computer.
The note arrived after her return from a trip in January to meet her longtime pen-pal, Rosemary Yeryk, for the first time.
The women, both born Jan. 5, 1944, started writing weekly at age 14 after finding one another in The Western Producer’s pen-pals wanted list.
Both were born into prairie farm families: Helen Flikinger at Spalding, Sask., and Rosemary Novotny at Spruce Siding, Man. They both married farmers in their teens and lost husbands.
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Each had three girls and one boy, with both boys dying young in accidents. Today, both are now grandmothers.
“We had so much things in common, it was in the Lord’s hands and it was meant to be,” said Yeryk.
Through the years, they shared tales of loneliness and hardship, birth, death and marriage.
“It was like having a sister,” said Yeryk. “It was somebody close you can talk to and share happiness and tragedies with.”
“We both had it rough,” said Yeryk. “But we survived, we’re survivors.”
Beasley spent 10 years caring for an ailing husband before he died last year. Yeryk worked at two jobs to raise her children after her first husband died in an accident.
Life was also hard for Beasley on the farm, where she had many chores as the oldest. For her, a penpal offered an escape and more importantly, friendship.
“I just wanted to have a friend,” she said.
Yeryk said there were few girls her age growing up and her twin sisters shared a special bond. Life as a newlywed on her husband’s farm at Vassar, Man., was also lonely.
“So when I had her as a pen-pal, it was something only I had and it was really special to me,” said Yeryk.
It was an emotional scene when the pen-pals finally met in person at the winter home in Arizona that Yeryk shares with her husband, Victor.
“When we hugged, we both had tears in our eyes,” said Yeryk, who called Beasley her twin. “Every morning when she woke up, I gave her a hug.”
Added Beasley: “I did break down a little bit.… It was like meeting another sister.”
That moment might never have happened if it weren’t for the pair reconnecting last year through the social media site Facebook.
The writing had slowed after they married: Yeryk at 17 to her first husband and Beasley at 19 to Barry Beasley. It eventually stopped completely as farm, family and work responsibilities increased.
For two days, the pair visited, shopped and toured the area.
“It was great to talk about old times and things we did,” said Beasley.
The tearful reunion was followed by a tearful farewell when Beasley left for home. They hope to visit one another at Beasley’s home in Spalding and Yeryk’s home in Medicine Hat, Alta., this summer.
For now, they keep in touch by telephone or e-mail every week to share their news about Beasley’s old-time dancing hobby, Yeryk’s stamp collecting and family events.
For Yeryk, e-mailing means a trip to the local library to use the computer, but she doesn’t seem to mind the extra effort.
“We’ve been pen-pals for so long, it would be a tragedy if we didn’t stay in touch now. We should be friends until we die.”
