After 74 Years And 3,000 Letters, Pen Pals Meet For First time

They’ve written more than 3,000 letters to each other over more than 70 years, but Audrey Sims and her friend Norma Frati had never met in person. Until now.

The pair were first in touch in 1940, when they were assigned to write each other a letter as part of a pen pal project in school. They continued to correspond, but Sims, 83, who lives in Australia, and Frati, 87, who lives in Texas, never got around to getting together.

I think we've got parallel families. We're both married and divorced and married again, and it’s sort of almost the same,” Sims said in an interview with Texas affiliate KHOU.

The pair, who share a mutual love of flowers, said they planned to visit some gardens during Sims’ stay. And the two women say that once Sims heads back to Australia, their written correspondence will resume.