Generosity turns into friendship

Carol Gerrond of Neponset displays some of the cards, letters and other items she's received from her international pen-pal, Erika Schenck of Ulm, Germany. The two women began corresponding after Schenck received some of Gerrond's clothing contributions in 1947, when Schenck's hometown was recovering from World War II air raid damage. (BCR photo/Heather Holland)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

NEPONSET — A 1947 donation led to a lifelong international pen-pal friendship for a Neponset woman and a woman in Germany.

When she was 15 years old, Carol (Blake) Gerrond of Neponset packed a box of clothing and other needed items to send to children in Germany who lived in areas that were badly damaged by World War II air raids. Gerrond sent her donation along with others from the Future Homemakers of America organization at Neponset High School.

Soon after, Gerrond received a thank-you letter from Erika (Morlock) Schenck of Ulm, Germany. Schenck, who was 12 years old at the time, had received some of Gerrond’s donations, and Gerrond’s name and address was attached to the items.

Gerrond sent a letter back to Schenck, beginning an international correspondence between the two women which has continued for more than 60 years.

When they began corresponding, Gerrond continued to send clothing and other needs to Schenck, until the German family recovered from the bombings.

“She said in one of her first letters that not only did she love to get our presents, but her whole family really looked forward to it,” Gerrond said.

Schenck also sent Gerrond some gifts, including a cuckoo clock, several Christmas ornaments, a small inlaid silver vase and a hand-stitched pillow made by Schenck that depicts her hometown.

Gerrond has saved all of the letters, cards and other items from Schenck from throughout the years. Their correspondence has been aided greatly by the fact that Schenck wrote and spoke English, even as a child.

Gerrond said she is pleased that she and Schenck were able to begin an international friendship with one another during the immediate post-World War II years.

“I appreciate so much that we grew up in cultures where we can start over after a bad thing happens,” Gerrond said. “We sign our letters, ‘Your friend,’ and we mean it. I feel like I have a real friend in Germany. There’s somebody in another country who I actually know.”

The two pen-pals even had the chance to meet each other face-to-face in 1970, when Gerrond and her husband visited Europe. The Gerronds spent an afternoon in Ulm, Germany, visiting with Schenck and her husband and daughter.

The donations that Gerrond sent to Schenck and other German children in the late 1940s remained meaningful to Schenck many years later.

“Before the Berlin Wall came down, she wrote twice that she sent parcels to friends in East Berlin because life was so hard for them,” Gerrond said. “She said, ‘Every time I do that, I think of you, Carol, and what your parcels meant to me.’ I feel good about that — that it affected her that way.”

Gerrond said her friendship and correspondence with Schenck during the past 60 years has been an enriching and valuable experience for her.

“To me, it’s very meaningful,” Gerrond said. “Not in the cutesy-pie pen-pal way. It’s a connection that I value, and I know she does, too.”

Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.