Madison ladies cruise through life together

A group of five local ladies, who have been friends for over 55 years, are cruising into the next phase of their lives with an exciting trip. Their friendship has lasted since elementary school, and the ladies are looking forward to spending more time together during retirement.

Monica Griggs Walker said, “We have so many memories from when we were younger and in school, and it’s nice to be able to spend time together at this stage of our life, when we’re older, while we’re not on walkers or in wheelchairs. So that’s why we wanted to go on this cruise to celebrate our long friendship of over 55 years and our retirement all at the same time. During the trip, we plan on spending time to reflect on the memories of when we were young.”

The impact of a friendship that lasts this long is a bond similar to a sisterhood. “To know somebody for so long makes you like a family member, like a real family member. It is just something very special and sort of indescribable. We all really love each other, and we just enjoy being with each other. I am just so thankful we have been able to be friends for so long. We’ve never really fought, we’ve always gotten along,” Walker said.

Becoming friends during elementary school has allowed these ladies to watch each other grow and for them to be there for each other through each phase of life. A couple of the ladies moved away from Madison while they were raising children, but they have all made their way back together to spend this peaceful time of life with their best friends.

Dorothy Rowell Young said, “As we graduated and went off to college, we grew apart a little bit, we didn’t see each other as often. We grew a little distant while we were raising our kids, and then we found each other again. Our kids are around the house less, as we’ve gotten older, so now we’ve had more time and interest in pursuing our friendships, doing fun things together and enjoying this next phase in our lives. The cruise is a really perfect example of that.”

For these ladies, their friendship has been a highlight of their lives, and they look forward to celebrating and reminiscing together on their cruise.

Walker said, “It’s just this is sort of an indescribable type of relationship that we have. I think being able to stay healthy in our older age will allow us to keep taking trips and having fun together. I know that as we get older, maybe 10 years from now, we can look back on the cruise and really appreciate that we did this with each other.”

The ladies will board the Enchanted Princess Ship this August and will travel for seven days across New England and Canada. The major cities they will stop at are Portland, Boston, Newport, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

“Some of us have never been to New England, so we are looking forward to seeing the lighthouses, eating seafood, and just being together and reminiscing,” Walker said.

Throughout their over 55 years of friendship, the ladies have made many memories together and see this trip as a continuation of that fun, and a way to continue to grow closer in this new phase of life.

Cyndi Morrow Hunter, “We all did so much stuff together. So when we get together, we laugh about the things we did growing up, and this cruise is just going to be another thing to add to our many fun memories. I can’t wait for all the fun things that we’re going to get to do on the cruise, and we know we are going to have such a good time.”

Martie Parcus Smith has never traveled in the Northeastern region and is excited to see the ports and the differences in culture. But she is most excited to experience these new things with her lifelong friends.

She said, “We know each other so intimately and know each other’s secrets that even our family wouldn’t know, and that’s true friendship. I am really excited to go somewhere different that I have never been before. I have never traveled up north, so I am so excited to see everything there.”

Along with 55 years of friendship, these ladies have been able to watch the city of Madison grow and change, from the small town of their childhood, to the industry filled hub it is today.

Young said, “When we grew up, I could ride my bicycle down Main Street and go to the drug store to buy a fountain soda and chips by myself or with my sister. You just can’t do that anymore, it has changed so much.”

Reflecting on the freedoms of living in a small town brings back memories that sound impossible today. “I would meet a friend who had horses every Saturday, and we would ride our horses in fields and on the road. That was in the 70s, and you can’t do that today. It was just a good small town, you felt safe,” Young said.

Friendship for these ladies is something that is taken very seriously, and they see this trip as an investment in that friendship. Peggy Fergeson Cole sees these ladies as the people who will be with her for the rest of her life.

“Recently, Monica was saying she was going to retire; she and her husband were looking at possibly moving to somewhere in Florida, and I told her no, that she needed to retire back to Madison, because we all need to grow old together. I meant it, we really need each other. We may not outlive our spouses; they may outlive us, but we need to be little old ladies together,” she said.