We can still recall word for word, our very first conversation which took place sitting on the curb that divided our driveways. It was a one upmanship on whose daddy had the biggest boat. She won! The year was 1954 and my family had just moved into a house at 206 John Street. Next door were the Alkenbrack’s at #210. I was seven and my new friend Jane Alkenbrack was nine.

We played cops and robbers with the kids on East St. and John until the street lights came on and we all went home. We jumped in piles of autumn leaves which had been raked to the curb for pickup, and endless games of Monopoly on Alkenbrack’s porch on rainy summer days. We tap danced at our hearts out at the “Connie Wilson School of Dance” over the Richelieu Hotel on Dundas St. At Christmas we got the same baby dolls, dressed in clothes sewn by Jane’s mom Ruth, knitted sweaters by my mom Noreen and beautifully crafted doll beds by my dad, Cecil Baker.

In high school we had our separate friends, given the age and grade difference but when we graduated, Jane was hired to work in the X-Ray Department of KGH, and the year following, I was hired in the Medical Records Department, down the hall from Jane. We commuted for a while then got an apartment together on University Ave., Kingston. Our friendship flourished once again. We laughed and giggled our way to and from work, learned to cook and loved our independence.

Canada celebrated its Centennial in 1967, the year Jane and I both got married. It seemed to be everyone’s Centennial project. I was bridesmaid at three friends’ weddings that year plus my own. We attended five weddings in addition to ours. In order to save a little money, Jane and I bought a beautiful long Veil to share. I wore it first in August of 1967 when I married my husband Larry Pringle and one month later Jane wore it when she married Morris Hart.

The Hart’s moved away from Napanee for a few years but returned to town with their first child, Mary Beth. They bought a house behind us. Our backyard corners touched. Although our friendship had never wavered, we were now closer than ever. We each had three children and when school resumed in the fall, Jane and I had coffee together. Coffee turned to lunches. Our husbands joined Kinsmen and we joined Kinettes. We raised kids, sewed, partied, cried over lost loved ones and rejoiced in our new babies and laughed at everything we could find to laugh at.

Our eldest daughter Stephanie wore our veil when she married , followed by Jane’s daughter Mary Beth, and most recently by our youngest daughter Susan. The Veil is packed away now, in hopes our granddaughters will choose to wear it.

The veil to us symbolizes the strong bond between us and our families. We have laughed and cried together for sixty-five years. Out of town folks we meet are enthralled by the story of the longevity of our friendship. We have traveld together and jokingly referred to our adventures as “John Street does Prague....” or “The John Street girls” or most recently when we talk about our aches and pains, we refer to them as the “John Street Syndrome”.

The truth of the matter is —-we are both fortunate to not only have enjoyed a long lasting friendship, but to have grown up in a safe place and spent our lives in this wonderful town of Napanee.

Sherry Pringle 3.jpg

Sherry Pringle.jpg

~ Do you have any lifelong friendship stories you'd like to share? We'd love to hear them! ~


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