CHRIS Tippins and Diane Ambros have celebrated 50 years of friendship, despite being in the same country only three times.

Mrs Tippins was a 12-year-old student at Colac High School when she began writing to mrs Ambros, her then 14-year-old pen pal from Saskatchewan, Canada.

Mrs Ambros said the topics which their letters covered had changed over the years, from “movies and boyfriends” to “getting married and first babies”.

“I’m not an extremely good correspondent, so we didn’t write that often, maybe every two or three years,” she said.

“I definitely didn’t think we’d last this long. when Chris said it was 50 years, it didn’t seem possible.”

Mrs Tippins said it was special for the friendship to have lasted five decades.

“Through the high school, they offered pen friends – I wrote to two girls and the one in Queensland only corresponded for a few years, but Diane kept writing,” she said.

“Back in 1962 when we first started writing, it took about a week, now we can answer back within minutes which is really good.”

The pair formally met when mrs Tippins and her husband Matthew travelled to Canada in 2006.

“It was always my dream that I would meet Diane,” mrs Tippins said.

“We stayed with Jud and Diane and it’s as if we’d always known each other – we’d never met but we were good friends,” she said.

Their second meeting was lunch at Melbourne Airport about two years ago, when mrs Ambros and her husband Jud travelled to visit their Ballarat-based daughter.

The Ambroses finally had a tour of Colac and district this month.

“It’s just been wonderful, it’s nice to be together,” mrs Ambros said.

“I think what’s most sad is that beautiful building here, Balnagowan, but the area is beautiful, especially the ocean drive,” she said.

Pen pals share 50-year bond

Tags: correspondent, husband matthew, pen friends, queensland, trave, two girls

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