Through the years a story told by my Mother, Sheila and then to read the letters from Susan, inspired me to create this book. Sheila Wakely lived in Westmount, Quebec far away from the other side of the world. Never did she think that she would ever meet someone from Shanghai, China. In December 1939, Sheila’s grade school teacher announced that they would be getting a new student from China, but to Sheila's surprise she was a little American girl sent stateside. Sheila and Susan became immediate friends. The Duclos's lived in the beautiful Rockhill Garden apartments in Cote des Neiges, Montreal. Susan had many luxuries that Sheila did not. Sheila lived in lower Westmount, born into poverty. Financially, no two people could be different, yet they were inseparable, until Susan's family was sent back to Shanghai, China in early 1941. On December 7, 1941 the attack on Pearl Harbor had North America in a tailspin. In Shanghai, the Japanese walked right in and captured Susan’s family with many other Americans, Canadians, and British military and civilians. They were held until late 1942 and then traded off for prisoners of War. Susan would return to the United Sates on the USS Gripsholm.

This book contains the letters from Susan to Sheila from 1941 until 2008. There was a period in which they had lost touch, but with a chance meeting of Sheila's and Susan's Mothers', they renewed their friendship once again. They did not meet face to face until 1979, when Sheila, her husband and their daughter Susan would travel to Ojai, California. A few years later Susan would return to Montreal to visit for the first time since 1945.

The handwriting you see above is Sheila's. This was written two months before she passed away. Although Sheila was frail, she tried to write what she felt was so dear to her. Their friendship would last a lifetime until Sheila's death in August 2008. But the story does not end there, Sheila's daughter, named after Susan continues to correspond with her and with Susan's daughter Lis (Joy).

Susan Duclos and Sheila Wakely's friendship would endure the great depression, a World War and thousands of miles of separation. Simple letters that were sent from a little girl to a friend that would in the end prove their friendship was a meeting of the soul, pure and forever lasting. A treasure that is meant to be shared.