In a corner booth at Brady’s American Grill in Peterborough, three women gathered for lunch on a Thursday afternoon.
“I can still remember being introduced to Camilie,” said Janice Lanou about one of her friends, Camilie Twiss. “I can still remember standing there, looking at her, and she was a little taller than I was — and before the evening was over, we were the best of friends.”
Lanou, Twiss and their friend Alta Lawn are typical best friends who played together as children and grew up to support each other as adults. The only difference is that they’ve remained close friends for more than 70 years.
The three women grew up together in New Ipswich, and met when they were 4 and 5 years old. Twiss was a grade above Lawn and Lanou, being a few months older, but they spent all of their time together, anyway.
“We were the Three Musketeers of the neighborhood,” said Lawn. “Where one was, the others were not far behind.”
The three of them spent much of their lunch reminiscing about the time they had spent together over the years, and especially how different their childhood had been from that of current-day children.
“It was so different back then; we just lived outdoors,” said Twiss, recalling summers spent exploring local rivers, picking blueberries and playing all over each other’s property.
They also spent a lot of time talking to each other on a party line that served their whole neighborhood.
“It was a busy, happy childhood,” said Lawn.
Lanou moved to Massachusetts just before junior high school, and Lawn moved to Peterborough for high school, but the three of them maintained their friendship and visited each other — foreshadowing the longevity of their friendship into adulthood.
They were in each other’s weddings, and tried to keep in touch as their lives became about family and children and careers. Lanou moved to California and came back. Lawn moved to Maine with her family before losing one of her five children and getting divorced, and Twiss moved away for school before coming back to the area to get married and work in nursing education.
Throughout it all, they remained friends.
“It’s neat,” said Lawn. “And now that we’re older, we can get together.”
“We’ve always stayed in touch with cards and letters and phone calls, but to actually meet in person is a special treat,” said Twiss. The three of them had not seen each other in person throughout the pandemic.
None of them could put a finger on how they’ve managed to remain friends for so long, partially because none of them could fathom how much time had passed.
“We never thought about getting old like this,” said Lawn. “As kids, I don’t think we ever thought about what it was going to be like to get old.”
“We’re still not old inside,” Twiss added.
The three women were excited to be able to keep getting back together in person since the pandemic has eased, and keep their friendship strong.
“When you’ve known somebody that long and you have such memories and you really know them, it sticks with you. I’d hate to lose that or break that or lose track of someone,” said Lanou. “There’s always been a strong tie between us, so we’ve rejoiced in that. We’re fortunate that we have each other.”