PEN PALS: OCEAN ISN'T BARRIER FOR FRIENDSHIP

Forty years ago, Jeana Koch's seventh-grade teacher asked who would be interested in a pen pal in England, and 11-year-old Jeana raised her hand.

Across the Atlantic, Sheila Carlin's seventh-grade teacher asked the same question. So Sheila and Jeana were paired up and have been corresponding ever since.

"Whoever matched us up did a good job," said Carlin, who with her husband, Ron, is visiting Jeana and Joe Koch in Cape Girardeau this week.

Koch said: "I had heard some of my friends talking about pen pals. I thought it sounded like fun. When we first started writing, the teacher asked us to tell about our families and our schools."

Koch and Carlin continued writing.

"We did really good through high school," Koch said. "But then I moved off and got married, and she did the same, and we lost track of each other.

"When I moved here (to Cape Girardeau) I found one of her old letters and got to thinking about her. I thought I should try to get in touch with her. I don't know how many years had passed."

Koch sent a letter to the last address she had for Carlin.

"Me mum sent it on to me," Carlin said.

The correspondence rekindled as they shared news about marriage and babies.

Carlin said, "Every year before Christmas she would write and say, `I will phone you at Christmas.' She never did."

Then, about five years ago, she did.

"Suddenly to hear the voice I was on cloud nine," said Carlin.

The friendship blossomed.

"Four years ago our daughter got married and we invited Joe and Jeana to come."

Koch recalled: "I was sitting here reading the invitation and thought, wouldn't it be nice to go. I called to see about airfare, and the prices were reasonable. My husband came in for lunch and I asked him what he thought. He got real excited, and he's not one to get really excited about anything."

Carlin said she was delighted to hear her "pen friend" of so many years was coming. "Then I started to panic.

"All those years you are corresponding," she said. "What if now I don't like her?"

The worry was unnecessary. The two couples got along fine. In 1989, the Kochs spent about two weeks in England. Last year the Carlins came to the states to visit. They toured Graceland in Memphis and watched the St. Louis Cardinals win.

They wanted to drive over and see the Grand Canyon, but a quick geography lesson proved that impossible. Missouri is bigger than the whole of England.

So they planned to return this year and take a trip to the Grand Canyon. They also watched the Cardinals win again.

The Carlins have been following the Midwest flooding closely. In fact, they were concerned that they wouldn't be able to land at the St. Louis airport or get to Cape Girardeau.

"We expected to see all Missouri under water," she said.

They continue to write each other regularly; the news mainly focuses on each woman's pair of grandsons.

"It's like your family just displaced," Carlin said.

And Carlin teased that Koch has been spelling her name wrong for 40 years. As an 11-year-old, Jeana started writing to "Shiela." She still writes it the same incorrect way. "I always will," Koch said.