Friendship lasts a lifetime

Former residents met as newborns in 1926

 

By MIKE NEUMANN
The Independent

 

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Peggy Carlson and Sue Morris met each other 82 years ago. Carlson was born Feb. 17, 1926, at Woodstock Memorial Hospital. Three days later, her lifelong friend, Sue Morris, joined her.
The two have since moved out of Woodstock — Carlson to Crystal Lake and Morris to Oklahoma — but still keep in touch regularly over the phone and in letters.
Long before moving apart, however, the two spent years as childhood best friends. Their mothers, Louise and Mina, became friends during their stays at the hospital shortly after the girls’ births. Because hospital stays were longer in those times, the mothers had a chance to get to know each other. They set up play dates for their daughters almost immediately.
The girls stayed best friends throughout school, from Woodstock grade school to Woodstock junior high to Woodstock Community High School.
“There are a lot more schools now,” laughed Morris.
Looking back on their friendship, Carlson recalled a couple of the ways she and Morris would keep busy.
“I remember we’d go down to the corner where the bookstore (Read Between the Lynes) is now,” she said. “You’d go through the drive-up and get your rainbow ice cream.”
The two also attended Woodstock City Band concerts regularly.
“We used to just play together a lot,” Morris said. “We jumped rope, those kinds of things.”
Although the two attended different schools after high school, both trained to become nurses. After Carlson and Morris married and started families, there was a time when both worked part-time at the same hospital where they had been born.
Each had four children — Carlson three daughters and a son and Morris three sons and a daughter.
Shortly after Morris moved to Nowata, Okla., Carlson’s husband, Don Henson, died in a car accident. Morris supported her friend through phone calls, letters and prayers.
Carlson remarried, moving to Crystal Lake in 1975, which was about the time she last visited Morris in Oklahoma.
In early 2000, Morris’ husband, Ermal Morris, and Carlson’s second husband, Jim Carlson, both passed away. Again, the two consoled each other through phone calls, letters and prayers.
Although some may believe a friendship like this couldn’t survive without an occasional visit, Carlson and Morris have kept their bond strong without seeing each other for 30 years.
“Our lives are just so intertwined,” Morris said simply, pausing, perhaps reflecting on the time that has passed. “I don’t know if we’ll ever see each other again, but we’ll keep in touch.”

This article was published in the March 12, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.