Pen Pals

When I grew up, we didn’t have telephones or television but we kept abreast of the world through letter writing. We had cousins, uncles, brothers and friends in both world wars and the Korean Conflict; many of whom also served missions.

In elementary school, somehow, our teachers connected us to penpals near and far. I may have been the only one in my class to write more than one letter. Two of these penpals I corresponded with for years and their names are indelibly imprinted in my memory.

My first penpal was Lavina Woodlands from Capetown South Africa. Her parents were English, she was privileged, and said strange things like “I won prize first”. We always planned to meet.

The second was Alice Jolley from Tropic, Utah; a town about 40 miles from my hometown of Orderville, tucked in the shadows of Bryce Canyon.  I didn’t remember ever having met her but when I heard her name at the Visitors’ Center in Nauvoo and we visited, she said we had seen each other once when we were in high school.  I sort of remember a tall, slender girl I met at an exchange assembly.

Childhood Penpals Meet April 22, 1996, in Nauvoo

Alice Jolley Allen & Jeanette Esplin Hugh

She has six kids, innumerable grandchildren.  She must have divorced her first husband and then taken care of him when he died because he just died two years ago and she has been married to this man, who is a convert to the church, for six years.  I told DeRay we couldn't go on a mission because everyone we met was on their second marriage.  This would be such a rewarding place to begin a new marriage after a life of hard knocks and bruises, losing mates through death or divorce, and the struggles of rearing a righteous family.

Diary January 4, 1954: I really keep busy nowdays writing letters. I write about twice a week to Ken Esplin who is on a mission in North Dakota; Robert Redus, my wonderful penpal from Katy, Texas; and Doug Maxwell, who is in the army.  He is stationed in Japan.  Then there’s daily DeRay, but he is home now (on furlough).

ROBERT REDUS.

Straight from my Treasures of Truth Book: I am bustling around in the café one day – the Parkway Café – in the summer of ’52 when two young, cute boys sat at the counter and ordered hot cakes. The café is loaded with Indians so I didn’t have time to talk to them. However, I did find out they were FFA boys from Texas. They called to me a “thousand times” to take their money for candy bars. Just as they were leaving, they asked me my name and to save time, I told them. Lloyd Hall and Robert Redus were their names. Since that time, Robert and I have grown to be very good friends. We have written regularly for two years and I have really enjoyed his letters. He is certainly a swell kid. We tell each other all our troubles and we are confidential. Highlight of our friendship was when he and friend Doug Freeman stopped in to see me Saturday June 22, 1954. However – I was all swollen up so they took me to the doctor and I found out I had the mumps. Really felt badly. We could have had so much fun. He’s cute too! And a lot of fun. Robert never forgot to send cards for my birthday and other special occasions. For graduation, he gave me a nice purse and ear rings.

DIARY:  Saturday June 12, 1954: This morning I woke up swollen bigger than ever—first word I heard was that the Texas boys were here.  O, I really felt bad.  I didn’t even want to see them.  I looked so funny.  They came up at 9 and I forced myself to go see them.  It was great!  Robert is the cutest thing and loads of fun; Doug’s a dream too.  They took me to Kanab to the doctor and he told me to get home and get to bed.  I have the mumps.  Gosh, first time I see Robert in years and I have the mumps.  I think he felt almost as bad as I did.  Got a nice letter from his mother.

(Sideline from my diary: June 15, 1954: Well, I lived through another night.  I wonder if Mama, Carol, Verla, and Lynn have told everyone in town how I am today.  These small towns!  Everyone seems to be telling mump stories for some strange reason.  Today I got another letter from DeRay and from the sounds of things he is really enjoying New York. (He is on his way to Germany in the service.)

This was under the Orderville News in the Kane County Standard: Robert Redus and a friend from Katy, Texas, visited with Jeanette Esplin.

Robert and I continued our friendship even after we were both married. He and his wife, Carole, came to see us when we lived in Stadium Village on the University of Utah campus. They showed us the town. We rode on the old wooden roller coaster at Saltair; went on tours of the city and temple square. They came to see us once after they had children when we lived in Orem. We never went to Texas; only time we’ve been there was changing planes. Well, once DeRay drove through there on his way home from the army.  When I was working at Penney’s, whenever anyone said he/she was from Katy, Texas, I always wanted to ask them if they knew Robert Redus.

Friends are so valuable; penpals enlarge your world.

Daddy was my first penpal; Mama was my last.      Stay tuned.