More than 20 years ago, Gladys Hankerson was trying to reach her sister in Maryland when she misdialed the phone number. A man in Rhode Island answered.
The mistake led to a lasting, over-the-phone friendship all these years.
“At first, it was just like her saying, ‘Oh I’m sorry!’ and she’s really Southern, very hospitable, polite, very sweet, she’s like, ‘I’m so sorry, child!’ and then she hangs up real quick,” said Mike Moffitt, 46, who lives in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
Hankerson, now 80, continued to dial Moffitt, and he finally asked her who she was and where she was from. That’s when Hankerson, who lives in Delray, Florida, told him she had been trying to reach her sister.
The two stayed in touch by phone over the years, chatting about their children — Hankerson is the mother of 10, Moffitt, a father of three. Some of Hankerson’s children even remember when the two first began talking, she said. Though the phone calls started as casual conversations, their friendship grew deeper over time.
“She had her son call at one time to let me know that somebody close to her passed away. He was like, ‘My mom just wanted me to call and let you know,’” Moffit said. “All of a sudden [our relationship] became not like a superficial check in call, I knew what it meant to her.”
This past Thanksgiving the two finally met in person!
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