Local birthday card exchange gets world record

CARMEL, Ind. - Technology can be a great tool to help people stay connected. But, sometimes it can make people feel isolated. Two long-time friends use paper and snail mail to keep their friendship going. 




They have exchanged the same birthday card to each other for decades.




It's been at least seven years since Mary Kroger and Pat DeReamer, who currently lives in Louisville, Kentucky, were last in the same room together.




"I can't get up," joked Mary, as she managed to get up from her wheelchair to give her friend a hug.




"I can't get up either," replied Pat, both of whom are now 95 years old.




They keep in touch every year through a special birthday card, torn and smudged with age, that has been sent back and forth to each other every year since 1944.




How it started is a bit of a mystery.




"We don't know which one started it," said Mary.




"I think it must have been you," said Pat.




"I don't know," replied Mary with a laugh.




What we do know is their friendship started at IPS School 84 when Pat first moved to Indianapolis and was the new girl in school.




"We used to laugh at the sewing teacher because we both thought it was so ridiculous but it was a requirement in 7th or 8th grade," said Pat.




Mary became one of her good friends, but Pat said everyone wanted to be Mary's friend.




"Mary's family had an ice cream soda fountain and so Mary was everybody's best friend because everyone wanted to go to Mary's house for ice cream after school," she said.




Pat's birthday is April 1st and Mary's is May 20th. The card exchange began and they have signed and dated the card or envelopes every year since.




"Because it'll be a long, long time before you're an old fossil," said Mary as she read the message on the inside of the card. "We are old fossils!"




They've been through a lot of life. After graduating from Shortridge High School, Mary went to Hanover College and Pat went to Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.




Mary went on to have five children, Pat had seven between having her own and adopting her second husband's children. Mary moved all around Carmel, Pat moved around to several states before settling in Louisville. Both have outlived their husbands. 




Through it all, the card always managed to get sent.




"Mary has been the one who has kept it going all these years because she has to keep it from April," said Pat.




"I have to keep it all year!" joked Mary, who entrusts one of her sons to be the keeper of the card.




Their effort is famous. They got certification from the Guiness Book of World Records at 60 years for the longest greetings card exchange. However, they recently had to protect their title.




"My daughter-in-law discovered that someone from Australia was trying to take over us as the oldest birthday card for 60 years," said Pat. 




"They tried to take us out," laughed Mary.




They found out a few weeks ago that they have now officially claimed the world record title for 80 years.




"Mary's family had to find someone who would verify and notarize that she was still alive and well and I had to do the same thing," said Pat.

Meeting in person is a bit harder these days. The two reminisced on family vacations together in Sanibel Island when their husbands were still alive. Now they connect every year through the card and a phone call.




Their humor and wit still shine through.




"I told my children when I was 90 I was going to take up yodeling. And they said 'Yodeling? What in the world for?'" said Pat as she set up her joke. "'Old-a-lady, old-a-lady, old-a-lady!' and they said 'That's bad mother.'"




"No that is bad," zinged Mary.




In a world where it can be hard to stay connected to friends, they're message is simple.




"Just send a card!" said Mary.




Here are some facts to put into perspective how much life Mary and Pat have experienced:




They were born in 1930. That's the year Pluto was discovered as a planet and the U.S. was in the depths of the Great Depression. They started sending the letter in 1944, just a few months before D-Day in the height of World War II. And they have seen 16 U.S. presidents in their lifetime.





via: https://fox59.com/indiana-news/local-birthday-card-exchange-gets-world-record/