‘Our Twelve’ keeps friendship strong through the decades

In a couple weeks, a slumber party will descend upon the Springfield House bed and breakfast in Boalsburg, where a group of 10 will trade laughs as they stay up into the late hours of the night gabbing and reminiscing.

Growing up in State College in the 1950s, they were known as “Our Twelve.” Friendship was important back then — drinking cherry Cokes at Rea & Derrick’s drug store downtown, watching “American Bandstand” together, driving around celebrating when the State College football team beat Bellefonte — but Brenda Whiteside Smith said the bond is even stronger now.

“We’re all grandmothers now; we have more time. We’re a lot closer now than we ever were,” said Smith, who lives in Mechanicsburg and is the designated photographer at Our Twelve reunions.

“Our Twelve” started to take shape as early as kindergarten in 1946 for some of the members, but Smith said their true friendship blossomed in high school. She describes the friendship as “kismet,” saying there was no common denominator among them — they came from varying religions, backgrounds, had different extra-curricular activities and hobbies.

“We simply gravitated to each other,” Smith said.

The reunions happen at least once a year in the State College area, and the women often visit old haunts like The Corner Room and Whipple Dam. Sandra Lee Bathurst travels the farthest, from Lansing, Mich. Christine Raiser Richer, Barbara Rossano Petnick and Renie Scott Morrison all live in New Jersey now. Eleanor Staley Homan lives in Mechanicsburg, Helen Winn Droege lives in Downingtown and Betsy Williams Breon doesn’t have far to travel, living in Centre Hall. Tish Slagle Shawley and Carol Naspinsky Watrous still live in State College.

They’ve lost two members of Our Twelve — Patricia Hauser Smith and Patricia McCloskey Werner.

“Seven years ago we lost our first friend and about a month ago we lost our second,” Smith said. “We’re still reeling in our heads about it.”

Morrison expects the recent loss to affect this year’s gathering, although it’s all the more reason she can’t wait to see her friends.

“I just love seeing everybody and getting hugs from them,” she said.

It’s not that ladies don’t keep in touch the rest of the year. As soon as the weekend is over, they’ll be texting, emailing, calling each other.

“My husband will say, ‘You were just together for 12 hours — what do you have to talk about?’ ” Morrison said, laughing.

This story was originally published October 2, 2017 at 9:10 AM with the headline "‘Our Twelve’ keeps friendship strong through the decades."