80-Year-Old Friendship Keeps Girls Going By June Scharf Pairs of girls frequently call themselves BFF’s (best friends forever). Violet Spevack and Evel Barcus, however, really and truly mean it. Both are 98 years old and have been best friends since 1935 – that’s an 80-year-old bond. Can anyone rival that? They know this is something special, and they marvel at the parallels in their lives. Each has a brother named Leonard and a sister named Gertrude. Violet and Evel were married on the same day. Evel has 4 children and Violet has 3, only because Evel told her that 3 would be enough for her. The Beachwood residents talk daily on the phone and see each other nearly every day, often by means of Evel’s walking the path leading from her Hamptons apartment to Violet’s Stone Gardens residence. They have clearly defined roles in each other’s lives now, with Evel playing more of the caretaker, and Violet being her willing victim. It’s a cute interplay whereby Evel tends to Violet’s appearance by polishing her nails and making hair, clothing and make-up recommendations, although they are issued more like commands. “Fix your hair, Violet.” “Don’t wear that, Violet, wear this.” “I’m fine, Evel.” “No, you’re not.” “Yes, I am.” Violet, the longtime reporter and “Cavalcade” columnist for the Cleveland Jewish News, has treated their friendship in writing through birthday toasts, poems and columns. In 1987, she penned “The Importance of Being Evel, ” a semi-fictitious, humorous accounting of Evel’s past. But her most cherished piece, always read on Evel’s birthday, is “The Evel Chronicles,” a “fanciful, tongue-in-cheek poem.” It all started when the girls met at Anisfield Camp where they spent a week together. “We clicked,” says Evel. A few years later, they joined a group of girls who hung out during the summer at cottages on Lakeshore Boulevard by Lake Erie. They became known as the “citronella girls” because of the candles they burned to ward off insects. “We met boys, of course!” Evel reveals. “My mom wouldn’t let me sleep there overnight,” Violet reports. Over the years, Violet took Evel to many interviews she conducted for her columns. “I could see how her mind is always working, and it enhanced my own,” Evel says. Fights never happen between these lively and energetic ladies, and they feel at liberty to say anything to one another. “We always forgive each other, rather than getting mad,” Violet explains. They say they are as close as sisters, but what they share seems to transcend bloodlines. The harmony is palpable. “She’s so smart, loving and giving,” says Evel. ”I’d say the same about her,” says Violet. About their senior status, they have some observations. Evel tells this reporter, “When I was your age (46), I didn’t know anyone my age.” She owns up to her hearing “being gone,” and to being a little forgetful. “I can’t remember what I’ve done for 98 years!” Violet, in her signature style, has a poetic take on the issue. I can’t hear, I can’t see, I can’t pee, What’s happening to me?? Despite these shortcomings, Violet makes one remarkable claim about her health. She has never been to the hospital, except to deliver her 3 children. To fill some of her day, Evel still likes to bake, with Violet often being the beneficiary of a batch of brownies or cookies. And then there’s “happy hour” at Violet’s apartment in the late afternoon, when Violet has a gin and tonic while Evel has some hot chocolate. Being up there in years does invite reflection, and Evel says that she never thought “it would be like this where the end of life is the hardest part.” Violet doesn’t think about health matters; instead she focuses on her writing. “Friends expect me to write a book, and if I did, it would be about people,” the mainstay of her newspaper work. It is Evel’s belief that when the day comes, “we will wind up in heaven, and Violet will have a seat saved next to her for me.” Violet calls that eventual place “H..Evelnly.” Amen. There’s “happy hour” at Violet’s apartment in the late afternoon when Violet has a gin and tonic while Evel has some hot chocolate. 22 Beachwood Buzz n July 2015