Round robin letter nears 60th birthday

    The West Chester High School graduating class of 1951 is a close-knit group if ever there was one. All six women who graduated that year have kept in touch even after they moved to other towns or other states. The women have written letters to each other several times a year every year since then. Joyce Nebel, a member of the letter-writing group, said she and the ladies have no plans to stop any time soon, and will continue to communicate through the mail as long as possible. Joyce said she looks forward to celebrating 60 years of letter-writing next May.

    The women write what is known as a ?round robin? letter, whereby they each write a separate letter that goes in a single envelope, which is mailed from person to person. When the envelope comes back to the first person in the series, she takes out her old letter and writes a new one, after taking time to read what her friends have been up to since she last wrote.

    ?We didn?t used to write as frequently as we do now,? said Nebel ?When we started, we sometimes held the envelope for a week or two, but now the girls want to write more often.?

    When Joyce writes a new letter, she discards her old letter. She said she has not saved any of her old letters and has no idea how many letters she has written over the years.

    Joyce married Ray Nebel shortly after graduation and moved several times since then. They lived in Tennessee, California and Illinois before moving to the city of Washington three years ago. The Nebels have one son, Michael, three grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, five step-grandchildren and eight step-great-grandchildren. Joyce said her descendants are often the subject matter of her letters.

    ?We write about our kids and grandkids, and what we?ve done that month,? she said. ?We really enjoy the grandkids. The other girls like to write about their trips and vacations. I feel like my life is very mundane, so I don?t have much to write about, but I end up filling a page.?

    A year ago, the women had a discussion about whether they should continue addressing their letters, ?Dear Girls.?

    ?Most of the time it ends up that way because to us, we?re still ?the girls,?? said Joyce.

    Two of the round robin contributors married their high school sweethearts. Peggy McDowell married Keith Parcell, and Joy Bauer married Robert Gillaspie, all from the class of 1951. The Parcells now live in Lockridge and the Gillaspies make their home in Fairfield. Pat (Reif) Johnson moved to Whitney, Texas, and Marge (Brinning) Soethout lives in Seward, Neb. The original group of six was cut to five when one of its members, Genevieve (Van Trump) Nowak, died in 1993. Prior to her death, Novak resided in Ogallala, Neb.

For the full story, see the Aug. 26 edition of The Washington Evening Journal