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Joy Doevendans and Diane Hatt are an unlikely pair of best friends, having lived their entire lives on opposite sides of the world. Despite being separated by almost 12,000 kilometres — Ms Doevendans in Renmark, South Australia, and Ms Hatt in Enderby, Canada — the pair have maintained a friendship that has lasted for more than half a century. "We consider each other family. If we don't hear from each other in a couple of days, we write and say, 'is everything OK?'" Ms Hatt said. The pair's connection began when, at the age of 12, Ms Hatt reached out to a friend of Ms Doevendans's, in search of an Australian pen pal. "There was a newspaper called the Vancouver Sun and they had [an ad] where people could write in and just ask for pen pals," Ms Hatt said. At the time, Ms Doevendans's friend had "too many pen pals" and decided to pass Ms Hatt's letter on to her instead. "She said, 'I've got too many, would you like one?' and I said, 'Sure!' And I just happened to get Diane's," Ms Doevendans said. What began as a letter sent on a whim in 1965 sparked the beginning of a 60-year friendship. But it would take 15 years before the pair would meet the person on the other end of the pen. Multi-generation affair Always fascinated by Australia, Ms Hatt's mother, Ina, wanted to learn more about the country and decided to write to Ms Doevendans's mother, Florence. Florence, a prolific letter writer in her own right, was thrilled to have someone to write to. The mothers also went on to become long-time pen pals, creating a generational connection between the two families. "I had seven pen pals, and I've only kept in contact with two." The two families met in 1980 in the South Australian town of Renmark, marking a turning point in their relationship. "My mum, my husband and I came over here to meet Joy and the rest of the family, and I remember thinking, 'I'm really nervous about meeting her,'" Ms Hatt said. Technological advancements While Ms Doevendans and Ms Hatt initially bonded over a shared love of writing, their mode of communicating eventually had to change with the times. When they began writing to each other, they had to wait two weeks for a response, which made keeping up-to-date difficult. "We would write at Christmas and maybe one other time, but we weren't really communicating all that much," Ms Hatt recalls. But innovation in technology over the past 60 years has made things a lot easier, from email to messaging and even FaceTime. Ms Doevendans still has every letter Ms Hatt has written her, but had no choice but to switch from hard copy to online records as they switched to the digital world. "I was actually printing [the letters] but then I had folders and folders full and I thought, 'nah, I've got to stop,'" she said. Final farewell One of the benefits of living so far away from each other is the discretion that comes with it, something Ms Hatt cannot always rely on back home. Ms Hatt and her husband, Roger, just spent the past month visiting Ms Doevendans's family in South Australia. While the pair made magical memories, Ms Hatt decided it was the last time they would visit Down Under. "How many people can say they have one of their best friends on the other side of the world? "I do consider Joy one of my best friends … I consider her a sister."
