It’s been more than 70 years since Irene Morgan went with her Lynden Grade School class to Peace Arch Park to participate in Hands Across the Border.
The annual event, for decades, drew thousands of children and youth from Canada and the U.S., to celebrate cross-border friendships, trade mementos and more, before it was cancelled in 2013 due to a lack of funding. (It made a comeback in 2015 and has been held in other years since – either in-person or online.)
With memories of her “awesome” 1953 experience still resonating, the Everson, Wash. senior is hoping to connect with someone else who was also at the gathering that year.
“I’ve always been a peace monger, so I started thinking about our class in the 7th Grade going up there,” said Morgan.
Remembering how impactful the experience was for her, she “wonders if anyone else remembers.”
“If someone knows someone … we could get together,” she said.
“Maybe there is ‘another ME’ somewhere in the midst of the wild growth we’ve seen in the last few decades.”
Morgan, now 85 years young, first reached out to Peace Arch News last summer, inspired after attending “handshakes” events at Peace Arch Park that were organized in response to “the rhetoric of the 51st state,” as an opportunity to connect Canadians and Americans in a show of solidarity.
“It’s so awesome to be supported instead of just being called names by our supposed president, who acts like a two-year-old,” Morgan said.
“It’s nice to be friendly, get hugs.”
Morgan said a woman she chatted with at one of the events encouraged her to pursue her idea to track down a fellow 1953-er.
“I just would like to meet with anyone that was there. It may be minor, but it’s history. And maybe it’ll encourage some of the other classes to do the same thing.”
Morgan – founder of the Restorative CommUnity Coalition; an organization centred on helping those coming out of prison reclaim their lives – is more than familiar with the importance of staying connected to friends and neighbours.
She’s lived on the same landlocked seven-acre property in Everson for 80 years; ever since moving from south California with her family when she was five.
Her neighbours, too, have a long history of staying put. One is a dairy farmer who’s lived in the same home for 65 years.
“There’s a little group of us here – four, five families that don’t like to move,” she said, noting the group also shares food, and is always quick to lend a helping hand when needed.
“That’s the way I grew up here,” she said. “We all help the neighbours.”
Morgan remembers being shy and unsure about what to say at the 1953 Hands Across the Border event, but also “how awesome it was that we were able to meet our neighbours – strangers – and be friends with them.”
In that spirit, she invites anyone else who recalls attending, or whose children have heard their parents’ stories about doing so, to contact her at 360-354-3653.
– with files from Anna Burns