On Feb. 29, 1972, in Room 103 at West Park Place Elementary School, 8-year-old Bonnie Farrall sat down and wrote a letter to one of her favorite authors, part of a classroom assignment meant to teach the students about letter writing.
In careful cursive, she told author Jerry West how much she liked his children's book series “The Happy Hollisters” and asked him how he got started writing and if the books are based on a true story.
A month later, she received a brief reply, signed “Your friend, Jerry West.” As with any school assignment, she quickly forgot about the letter-writing exercise.
Until, that is, more than 50 years later, when a new letter arrived at Bonnie Farrall Ossege's door in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she works as a financial planner for airports. Inside the envelope was a copy of the letter she wrote to West, a copy of his reply and a message from West's family.
The message was part of a project by the author's grandson to track down and reach out to the children who had written to his grandfather.
Jerry West was actually a pen name for Andrew E. Svenson, who wrote 33 books in The Happy Hollisters series, which focused on a family of five kids who solved mysteries. West also wrote for the “Hardy Boys” and “Bobbsey Twins” series under a different pseudonym.
When Svenson died in 1975, he left behind a box filled with more than 2,000 fan letters he received from kids all over the country, as well as carbon copies of the responses he sent. The box was passed down through the family and eventually fell into the hands of his grandson, Andy Svenson III and his wife, Callie.
Andy and Callie Svenson recently republished the Happy Hollister books and are working to get a new generation of kids interested in the stories.
Using the internet and public records, they launched a project to find the kids – many of them now grandparents themselves – who sent the letters. After returning the letters to the writers, they highlight excerpts on their website and social media as a way to promote the book series.
They chose Bonnie's letter to highlight on Leap Day this year because it was the only one in the collection that had been written on Feb. 29.
“I never knew Andy's grandfather, and I can't begin to imagine what he would think of the internet and how we were able to locate you after all these years,” Callie Svenson wrote to Ossege. “But I'm sure he would be absolutely tickled to know that you have fond memories of reading his books as a child and remained an avid reader.”
Ossege said she was surprised to get a letter she had written 50 years earlier but has enjoyed the blast from the past.
“This is just so cool to get a glimpse back into my 8-year-old head, she said. “You forget so much of when you're a kid, and this just takes me back.”
Receiving the letter also brought back many fond memories of West Park Place Elementary and growing up in Newark.
She recalled walking to West Park with her brother and, as she got older, serving as a safety guard to help younger classmates cross the street.
“I loved everything about it,” Ossege said. “The teachers were fantastic. I remember playing at recess and how fun the outside was. I remember that we had fantastic music and art teachers that just really made the experience fun.”
She remembers loving her third-grade teacher, Mrs. Wickersham, who assigned the letter-writing exercise.
“I can picture her classroom, it was on the back side of West Park Elementary.” she added.
Ossege's mother was an avid reader and instilled that same love in her kids. Ossege recalls going with her mom to the library every week and struggling to pick just six books to abide by the check-out limit.
The Happy Hollisters books were a favorite of Ossege, who liked them because they were mysteries but all had happy endings.
“I remember that my mom had gotten us the whole series,” she said. “It was a big deal because we didn't have a lot of money when we were growing up, we didn't have a lot of extra stuff. But somehow we had the whole series of books.”
By coincidence, Andy and Callie Svenson were in Cincinnati for a conference earlier this month, and Ossege met up with them. She's also considering purchasing some of the books.
“I'm tempted to buy some just to see what I remember but also to see if my grandkids would be interested or if it would be too dated,” she said.
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