From New Brunswick to Scotland: A 75-year friendship endures between these pen pals
Roberta MacKenzie and Pat Cunningham first started writing to each as 11 year olds
When an ad in a magazine prompted young Canadians to become pen pals with a girl in Scotland, 11-year-old Roberta Gorham jumped at the opportunity.
She penned a letter to her new friend, writing about how she had recently got her tonsils out and spent time in the hospital — not a great way to spend the spring of Grade 5. She stamped the letter and sent it off and waited excitedly for a response.
That was sent 75 years ago.
Now known as Roberta MacKenzie, she received the latest letter from Pat Cunningham in Scotland in February.
As the world and their lives changed, the two kept in touch — sharing stories and photos, updates on their lives, using pen and paper. Through marriages, children, grief and even the advancement of technology, their friendship has never wavered.
"Having Pat as a pen pal is one of the most important things of my entire life," MacKenzie said.
"It's just a love match."
Some things have changed over the long decades of letters flying back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean, especially the price of a stamp.
"In those days, a letter was about four cents," said MacKenzie.
"Now to send a letter to her is $3.55."
Over the years, she has visited Scotland five times and Cunningham has been to Canada twice.
And it all started with that ad in the Family Herald, a Canadian publication that ran until 1968.
MacKenzie's family lived on a small farm near Crystal Beach, the Kingston Peninsula. Every week, a copy of the Herald would arrive at the family's home and when her mom and dad finished with it, MacKenzie would flip through to the Maple Leaf Club, a section of the magazine for young people to find pen pals.
MacKenzie wrote to the girl in the ad, but instead, received a response from someone else. The ad had attracted so many Canadians that the original girl started giving the letters to her friends to respond to.
That was the start of a long friendship between MacKenzie and Cunningham.
They would write often, sometimes even sending little trinkets or treats to the other. As they grew, their lives followed similar paths, both got married in 1959 and later gave birth to girls around the same time.
"Her birthday is in April and she'll be 86 and mine's in July and I'll be 86," said MacKenzie.
After years of writing back and forth, never having had a conversation in person or on the phone, MacKenzie decided to make the trip to Scotland in 1968 to visit her pen pal, who lived in Edinburgh at the time with her husband, Robert.
Cunningham made arrangements to take MacKenzie to Gleneagles, a luxury estate and golf course in Auchterarder.
MacKenzie recalls her excitement as the pair checked into their well-appointed room and ate in the dining room at tables covered by pristine, white tablecloths and only the best cutlery and wine glasses.
Years later, when Cunningham visited New Brunswick, MacKenzie knew she had to take her to the Algonquin in Saint Andrews to repay her.
MacKenzie's visits to Scotland were always filled with new adventures. They picnicked at Smuggler's Cove in Aberdeen, went swimming in the North Sea, explored Inverness and drank beer, whiskey and stout at Melville Castle.
Her last trip to Scotland, in May 2024, was an extra special one. Cunningham's husband had come home after a two-month stint in hospital.
"They made us a beautiful lunch and sat and talked to us, and we took lots of pictures, and I gave Robert a great big kiss and I was so glad I did," said MacKenzie.
"And you know, within six or eight months, he was gone."
MacKenzie's most recent letter to Cunningham expressed her sympathy for Robert's passing. Cunningham wrote back — 138 people showed up to share condolences at his funeral.
It's the type of message that could have been sent through Facebook, email or even communicated over the phone.
But for MacKenzie and Cunningham, a handwritten letter can do so much more.
"It's a dear thing between us," said MacKenzie.
"She can still write, even though it's a little scratchy, and mine isn't perfect, but it's just something we have always done — hundreds of letters back and forth."
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