Local Disability Advocate Diana Wade was recently reunited with her childhood best friend after the two lost contact with each other more than 30 years ago. Wade and Betsy Van Antwerp grew up together, living next door to each other in Rolling Hills Estates in Southern California from the time they were three until the families moved away when both girls were 13.
Growing up in Rolling Hills Estates in the late 50s and early 60s was a child's dream come true. The girls became friends in nursery school, and were "joined at the hip" through childhood.
 Left photo: Diana Wade, left, and Betsy VanAntwerp, right, get ready to board a bus for their rafting trip. At right, “twinsies” Wade and VanAntwerp pose in this 1960-era photo. |
The girls called themselves "twinsies," and even had matching outfits. "We would have spent 24/7 together if our parents had allowed it; we were tighter than sisters," said Wade.
VanAntwerp, then Knauf, and Wade did everything together, including horseback riding and ice skating lessons, Brownies then later Girl Scouts, and even had an "air band" with two other girls. The group would lip synch to Beatles songs, and each one had a Beatle alter ego; Wade was George and VanAntwerp was Paul.
The girls were also famous in their neighborhood, a 13-home cul-de-sac, for building forts, which was their favorite past time. The girls watched the Watts riots from Wade's living room window, which had a spectacular view of the Los Angeles basin. They were on a Girl Scout camping trip together when JFK was killed. With all of the changes happening in the world, it was almost natural to expect that their lives, and friendship, would change as well.
Wade's family moved to nearby Palos Verdes when she was 13 because they needed more space. Their home in Rolling Hills Estates had only two bedrooms, which Wade and her brother used while their parents slept in the den. So when the opportunity to purchase a larger home arose, Wade's parents took it. Shortly after, VanAntwerp's family moved to Huntington Beach due to her father's love of boats. The girls wrote letters and had occasional visits, but were not allowed to call each other because their parents felt that the long distance phone bills would be staggering.
The girls saw each other twice in 1973; in April for Wade's 21st birthday, and then in September for VanAntwerp's father's funeral. "That's the last time I remember seeing her until last week," said VanAntwerp, who moved out of state shortly after her father's passing.
Both women became busy with their lives, and even though they lost contact, they never forgot each other. VanAntwerp had attempted to find Wade in the past, but was unable to do so until last spring, when she Googled the name “Diana Wade” and found a paralegal by that name living in the Kern Valley. Excited that she might have found her long lost friend, VanAntwerp immediately emailed Wade and was ecstatic to learn that she had, indeed, found her. The women began emailing each other and staying in contact three to four times a week, and were finally reunited last week, when VanAntwerp and her family visited Wade at her home in Squirrel Valley.
The day that VanAntwerp was due to arrive, Wade stood on the deck waiting for her, and when she finally saw her drive up, and ran down to greet her. "It was like anticipating getting a present; waiting for Christmas morning to see what Santa has brought you," said Wade.
The women talked until very late, and then the next day had breakfast at Cheryl's Diner, did a double blitz rafting trip, went McNally's for dinner, then walked to the falls and the bridge. "We didn't get enough time together," both women lamented.
"Our husbands said we were so much alike even after all this time that it's like we're sisters," said Wade. In fact, both women were surprised to see a picture their husbands took immediately upon their seeing each other again for the first time, because they did, indeed look like sisters. Both also mentioned that their penmanship and signatures are very similar.
Wade and VanAntwerp do not intend to lose touch again. In fact, they are still emailing each other several times a week, but do not call because they are sure that they would stay on the phone for hours; amusingly, the same reason they were not allowed to have phone contact as teenagers. Wade plans to visit VanAntwerp at her home in Glendale, Ariz., in October after a work conference, and they plan to continue to visit each other as much as possible. "I'm sure we'll see each other often now. It's way too much fun to see her to let too much time elapse again," said VanAntwerp.
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