Lori Loucks of Festus recently met her Australian pen pal in person for the first time since they started writing each other more than four decades ago.
She said it was as thrilling as she had imagined.
Loucks and her pen pal, Maxine Nolan, who lives near Rasmussen, Queensland, Australia, started writing each other in 1982 when they were kids. They stopped writing for quite a while but resumed their correspondence about a dozen years ago, after they reconnected over the internet.
Both women are now 53.
Loucks and her husband, Dr. Ron Loucks, 52, met up with Nolan and her husband, Kevin Nolan, 54, in late February in Australia, and the two couples spent much of the next two weeks together, first on a cruise and then sightseeing in the Land Down Under.
“It was absolutely fantastic,” Loucks said. “We truly felt like we’d known each other for 41 years and were long-lost friends.”
Loucks recalled how she and Nolan became pen pals.
“I found her name in a Tiger Beat magazine ad,” Loucks said. “There was a page of people looking for pen pals I saw her name and started writing her. She said she got two pen pals from the ad, but hasn’t heard from the other one since back then.
“We exchanged letters (regularly). I have hers, but she lost mine in a house fire. We even made cassettes for each other to hear each other’s accents.”
The pen pals spent much of their letters telling each other about what life was like in their countries.
“I grew up in De Soto,” Loucks said. “She knew me from my maiden name, Ayotte. When we were kids, the letters were just trying to find the differences between the U.S. and Australia. Since the weather is the opposite of ours, we thought it was funny.”
The two continued to write each other until they graduated from high school, but then lost track of each other.
“Then, she found me on Facebook about 12 years ago.”
As adults, the two have shared more personal information.
“Since we’ve gotten back together on Facebook, it’s more about our children and about our families,” she said. “I have four daughters and she has three daughters.”
Their in-person meeting happened after Loucks and her husband planned a cruise in Australia and Loucks told Nolan about it.
“My husband and I signed up for a cruise out of Sydney,” Loucks said. “I asked Maxine if she could meet us in Sydney before or after the cruise. She does not live near Sydney. It’s almost a 16 hour drive. They actually live in Townsville, a Rasmussen suburb.”
The Nolans not only wanted to meet the Louckses but asked if they could join them on the cruise.
Well, of course, Loucks said.
“The cruise was a week, and we spent another week in Sydney,” she said. “They went with us on the cruise and stayed in Sydney with us.
“It was awesome. It was the best trip. We were just enamored with the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. But, our main concern was getting to know each other.”
The Louckses intend to host the Nolans in the summer of 2024.
“They’re already planning a trip here to stay with us to see Fourth of July festivities,” Loucks said.
Students make pen pals
Loucks, a member of Our Lady Catholic Church in Festus, contacted Principal Tracy Kempfer of Our Lady Catholic School to see if any of her students were interested in joining a pen pal program with students at Good Shepherd Catholic School in Rasmussen, where Nolan works as an assistant principal.
Kempfer liked the idea.
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity, first, for our kids to have pen pals, but also to have pen pals in another country,” Kempfer said.
She broached teachers about the pen pal idea.
Fourth-grade teacher Nikki Ott and third-grade teacher Amy Klump both jumped at the chance. The teachers had their students write letters to prospective pen pals at Nolan’s school, and Nolan did the same at hers.
Loucks and Nolan exchanged the letters during the visit.
“This is coming about because of (Loucks),” Ott said. “She thought it would be great for the students. I hope the students get to learn about people from other places and make connections with other people. It would be neat if some of these guys continue to write their pen pals – anything to get the kids excited about writing.”
Klump also thought her students could benefit from writing to the Australian students.
“When I heard about the story, I thought it was interesting,” she said. “There are possibilities of having lifelong friendships across the world.”
Students said they wrote about their interests in their letters.
“I enjoyed writing my letter,” said third-grader Kaylee Nettles. “I said my favorite color is purple.”
Tyler Peters, another third-grader, said he wrote to an Australian student, too.
“I just said my favorite movies are ‘Star Wars’ movies,” he said. “I’m looking forward to having an Australian pen pal.”
Fourth-grader Emma Pingel said she wants to learn more about Australia.
“I’m looking forward to having my pen pal,” she said. “I wrote about my favorite movie and other things I like.”
Emma Choate, also a fourth-grader, said the pen pal program interests her.
“I’m excited about this,” she said. “I wrote that my favorite show is ‘Julie and the Phantoms.’”
Kennedy Ott, another fourth-grader and Ott’s daughter, said she turned to a cartoon, “Back to the Outback,” to give her ideas about Australia before writing her letter.
“(The characters) have Australian accents.”
Loucks said she believes the effort will help motivate the students and their counterparts to write.
“It’s so exciting to get a piece of mail with your name on it when you’re a child,” she said. “I hope they will continue writing to each other.”