Late in August, seven women celebrated their 70th birthdays and 65 years of friendship with a weekend on Mackinac Island near the upper peninsula of Michigan, sharing carriage rides, photo opps, lunch at the Grand Hotel and making memories.

They have known each other since grade school, and while the intervening years have taken them in many directions, and communication is sometimes limited to annual Christmas cards, they agreed that it was time for another “slumber party” for the girls from Albert Lea’s south side.

Sandy (Ameson) Roscoe of Remer, JoAnn (Butters) Rietveld of Clarks Grove, Kay (Goodmanson) Stiles of Wells, Pat (Higgins) Stem of Rochester, and Virginia (King) Sorenson, Bev JoAnne (Peal) Cotter, and Shirley (Schultz) Nelson of Albert Lea grew up at a time when walking was the accepted transportation for teenagers, and they shared their experiences and dreams as they walked to junior and senior high school and related activities, to the city beach, to the movie theaters, to baseball games, shopping and to ice cream and soda shops.

The friendship and memories developed during those years will last a lifetime, and their T-shirts saying “Friends Forever, est. kindergarten 1944” will be a treasured reminder of the weekend.