Shirley, a former nurse, recalled being given Kathleen’s address in 1956.
“My Brownie leader came in with a cigar box full of names and asked if anyone would like a pen pal from Scotland,” she said. “I grabbed a name and it was Kathleen Bonthron.
“We just wrote a few times a year at first but then we started writing more and it just got to be fun.
“I got to learn about her culture and she learned about ours. And I learned new words. I loved her from the minute I started writing to her.
“We told each other about our families, Brownies and school and then later, of course, we got into the dating which was exciting.”
Kathleen, who now lives in Lenzie, said: “You didn’t know what America was at that age. I think we just used to write about school and going out with our mums and dads.
“It was just all chit chat, as it is now. It’s just bigger chit chat now.”