MADISON TWP. — It started with a TV show.

Lori Weber Beekel of Madison Township and Jenny Skogland Sternhoff of Stockholm were just 9 years old when they became pen pals — thanks to a children’s TV show that aired in the U.S. in the mid-1970s. Five years later, they met in person for the first time. Over the recent July 4 holiday, they reunited once more — marking 52 years of friendship that has spanned oceans, decades, and life’s many twists and turns.

Lori, who grew up in Hudson, said she first connected with Jenny through the children’s television show “The Big Blue Marble.” The program spotlighted stories of children around the globe and encouraged cultural understanding through pen pal exchanges. Inspired by the show’s global pen pal program, 9-year-old Lori signed up — and Jenny became her new pen pal.

For years, the two exchanged letters and photos. Then in 1979, when Jenny’s parents planned a six-week tour of the U.S., the girls met face to face.

“We recognized each other right away,” Jenny said. “Lori is the one friend I’ve stayed in touch with the longest. We didn’t even realize how long it had been until we did the math.”

As they sat together just before the holiday, paging through Lori’s photo album, the memories came rushing back — letters in their original envelopes, snapshots from the early years, and little mementos tucked between the pages.

“I’ve got a ton of these pictures in my scrapbooks at home,” Jenny said with a smile.

That 1979 trip planted a seed. Jenny returned to the U.S. in 1981 as a Youth for Understanding exchange student, attending high school in Mission Viejo, California. She and Lori reunited in 1982 and again in 1988, when Jenny visited for a third time. By then, Lori had married Mark Beekel and had a daughter, Katie. Son Nathan would come along later.

During that visit, one of Jenny’s favorite photos was taken — everyone seated on a white concrete bench beneath a pine tree on the Beekels’ Madison Township farm. Over this Independence Day, they returned to that spot and recreated the image — same bench, same friendship, decades later.

Through the years, the letters kept coming. Life got busy — marriages, children, careers — but the transatlantic bond endured. “I didn’t write as much when the kids were young,” Lori admitted. “But we always picked up right where we left off.”

Jenny finished high school in California, earned a degree in economics from the University of Stockholm, and has spent her career working in various accounting roles. She now works in municipal health care accounting for the Nacka municipality, just outside Stockholm, where she lives with her husband Jesper, a sales manager for Nordic-Kooi Camera Surveillance. Besides their daughter, Lovisa, who joined them on this trip, Jenny and Jesper also have a son, though he didn’t make the journey. 

Lori is a teacher’s aide for Sand Creek Schools and also helps out at the Tillotson farm stands throughout Lenawee County. Her husband, Mark, serves as president of the Southern Michigan Railroad Society. 

This summer, the Sternhoffs — Jenny, Jesper, Lovisa, and Lovisa’s boyfriend, Harold Holmqvist — flew into Boston, rented a car and toured Niagara Falls, then drove to Madison Township to stay with the Beekels for a few days. From there, they continued on to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and Antelope Canyon before heading home to Stockholm on July 12.

Today, Jenny and Lori keep in touch more easily than ever, thanks to Facebook Messenger, texting, and the occasional phone call. Though the airmail letters have slowed, the connection hasn’t.

“We’re close,” Jenny said. “We usually catch up at least once a month.”

“And now with social media and cell phones, it’s so much easier,” Lori added.

During this most recent visit, Jenny brought a box full of Swedish treats —mostly candy and snacks the Beekels have grown fond of over the years. Lori had a box ready, too, filled with Smucker’s goodies for Jenny and her family to take back home.

What began with a children’s TV show has grown into a lifelong friendship — rooted in letters, sustained by visits, and carried forward with technology and love.