Merchant Marine pen pal had long correspondence with Morris woman

MORRIS – When Carol Walker was an eighth-grader at Mazon Grade School, her world was small. She lived in town, close enough to walk to school, was an only child, and her family didn’t take many vacations.

But on Nov. 28, 1958, her world abruptly grew. Beginning one fall day and lasting for 12 years, she reached out to Venice, Guam, Casablanca, Barcelona – even Antarctica. It was the beginning of a friendship with a Merchant Marine – a married Texas father of two – who became Walker’s pen pal and shared his adventures with a curious young girl.

“It was an important relationship to me,” said Walker, who now lives in Morris. “It opened the world from Mazon, Illinois, because we didn’t travel much. It was intriguing to me to learn about other parts of the world.”

Elbert Thawley, or “Bert,” also became a significant part of Walker’s family. She eagerly read to her parents her pen pal’s letters when they would arrive with exotic stamps and postmarks from foreign ports of call. And when she married Dick Walker, he also became interested in the letters.

After Thawley’s death, Walker sent the correspondences to his son, Stan, a St. Louis physician, who produced a book of the letters and photos his father and Walker exchanged over the years. Walker received the book in December.

Letters from abroad

The relationship began when Walker’s teacher, Lenora Burkhart, had her class respond to a Weekly Reader story looking for pen pals. Burkhart’s class adopted a United States Merchant Marine ship, and Walker wrote to the captain asking him to be her pen pal. He didn’t respond, but Thawley did.

An engineer on the ship, his first letter to Walker arrived at the school. She was ecstatic and couldn’t wait to get home to open it. His subsequent letters were sent to the post office.

“I walked to the mailbox downtown to check the mail,” she said, “and I’d walk home reading the letters because I couldn’t wait to get home. It was always a big day when I got a letter from him.”

Sometimes, there were several letters a week. Other times, there would be gifts. Among them were little Venetian glass animals, a hand-stitched linen tablecloth from Spain, an eight-piece Noritake china set, an ebony coffee table from Vietnam and a liter bottle of Chanel Number 5 perfume.

Walker would respond to Thawley’s letters the same day. She would share what her life was like and ask about his. She was fascinated about what it was like to travel the world.

Although Thawley never mentioned he was involved in any wartime activity, Walker said he often was in ports around Vietnam and Korea during times of conflicts.

According to the United States Merchant Marine Academy's website, the U.S. Merchant Marines is a fleet of privately-owned ships that transports commercial goods and that may be used during wartime to transport military personnel, equipment and supplies as an auxiliary to the Navy.

Return to sender

Thawley’s letters were always fascinating and beautifully worded, Walker said, almost poetic. She was surprised to learn later that her pen pal had only a fourth-grade education.

“His writing was beautiful,” she said, “and he was so eager to write. I just think it’s amazing that a man would go to that effort. I think it was a need we both had to express to each other. He was a sweet man.”

Thawley even called Walker on her 16th birthday. She fondly remembers the unexpected call she took on her pink princess phone. When she began dating Dick, Thawley told her to ask if he minded their continued correspondence.

“At some point, he became ‘Uncle Bert’ in the family,” Walker said. “This man meant just so much to me. How can someone mean that much to you when you never met him? It was like this private little story in my life.”

Walker received the last letter from Thawley in 1970. He was retired by that time and home in Texas.

“I wish to say that at this time that I have enjoyed corresponding with you through the years,” he wrote. “But don’t be surprised to hear at any time that I have passed away.”

His wife, Lillie, wrote her in 1973 telling her he had died. Walker saved all of the letters and gifts until a couple of years ago, when she passed them along to his sons.

For the next two years, Thawley’s son Stan compiled the letters and postcards and maps into a coffee table-type book called, “Bert and Carol, A Collection of Letters.” He presented her with a copy for Christmas, 56 years after the first letters were exchanged.

“It was such a surprise when I got those letters,” Stan Thawley said. “I felt they needed to be preserved and felt I wanted to share them with my son and my nephew and with Carol. It was just such a treasure chest out of the blue.”

“I love the book,” Walker said. “I am not a crier at all, but then I opened the book and saw that big postcard to me at the school and his picture and mine next to each other, and it was overwhelming to me. After giving them all those letters, I now have them back again.”