I heard about the book in a women's magazine and thought I've got to read that since I am also from Iowa(but several yrs older than the girls) and then went to Iowa State University in Ames. It was like stepping back in time most definitely!! Amazing how so many things are so similar to other small towns in Iowa(the cornfield keggers, dashing like mad to have lunch off campus, etc) I probably ran across some of these girls myself since we loved Boyds Malt shop and it was known to have the best double thick chocolate malts in town!! Like many other readers, I'm amazed at the bond that was started and has grown through these thirty plus years. It's wonderful and I hope more women still reach out to other women at later points in their lives for support and wisdom.

I am part way through the book and felt compelled to find the website and comment.

Girls from Ames, meet the girls from Shawville: Nancy, Mary F, Kendra, Mary R, Shelley, Janice, Angie, Judie and Wanda. You have no idea how remarkably similar our journeys have been!

We were raised in a small town in Quebec, Canada. In our town of 1500 people you were born into friendships. The local doctor, my father in law, delivered many of us, including me! Two of our members are cousins. PS: Marilyn, your dad was so very much like my father in law.

We have been together since kindergarten. We straddle two grades in school (it was hard to come up with 9 girlfiends from one grade!). Like the Girls from Ames we bonded in grade school with individual friends, but by high school we were a team. And yes, we were often hated and despised by those we ignored. Only hindsight gives you clarity on that! Jeffrey you did such an insightful job of highlighting that issue. I regret that we did not have a cake made about us! Many of us would have peed our pants over a joke like that! We were not intentionally snobby, but we gave an air as such because of our deep ties.

We spent all weekends together, sharing cars (for which we had nicknames), jobs and yes, boyfriends! We very often piled into two cars and headed towards great adventures. Drive in movies, bush parties, house parties, school dances, sports events, concerts, fairs....you name it, we were there. And we were there with arms locked and giggles aplenty.

We were in each other's weddings and have shared in the birth of many chidren. We have become teachers, accountants, social workers, human resources professionals and cops. Our close encounters with the law as teens led one of us to believe she knew enough about the profession to become one!

We know each other's birth homes intimately and we not only know each other's parents very well, but also grandparents and extended families. At our last get together the words "deeply rooted" kept coming to me over and over again. Our bond is thick, strong, long and deep. Like the Ames girls, we care very deeply for each other. As a child and teen I had no idea how special our relationship was. When I went off to university it felt so odd to be trying to make friends with people I did not know intimately. I kept marvelling at girls who could gain new friends when they didn't even know their parents or where they lived!

Perhaps our best gift to each other is laughter. One of our members is particulary witty and nicknamed most of us and everything we did. As mentioned we have names for the cars we drove as teens. We have names for some prominent characters from our lives. We even have names for actions and events! Thanks to Mary F, when we get together we laugh constantly over the memories these nicknames conjure up. The names add such texture to our bond.

We are all 43 or 44 now. We just spent a weekend at my house last summer and plan to see each other again in 2010. We are all over Eastern Canada but have seen each other in smaller groups since we left high school.

Girls from Ames and Jeffrey, your book and the familiar story in it will be a gift to my girlfreinds when we gather next. I know they will find it tender, powerful and as reflective of our lives as I did. Thank you so very much for sharing your story.

Shelley Potvin
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Hi,
I just finished the book and it's similar to my experience.
We are a group of nine women who met in high school in 1962. We graduated in 1966 and call ourselves, "club '66."
We used to get together every month. Now, we get together every two months, but have our annual getaway every year.
It's truly a blessing to have friends who love you just as you are.

Hey!
I just finished this amazing book! I am only 19 years old but felt like I was reading about my own life. I have a group of 13 best girl friends and although we haven't lived quit as long as all of the ames girls the similarities of all of their lives and ours up until college are almost scary they are so similar. I have known two of the 13 since before kindergarten and 6 of the others are the same, the last one of us came in 8th grade and we have all been inseparable for at least seven years. We all bring out the best in each other every day just like all the ames girls. We have grown to coin the title "the 13 girls". College has been really difficult for all of us because i think its safe to say we are closer than actually family. Regardless of what happens with us, smiles or tears we will always be there for each other just like the ames girls. I thought for sure that my group of girls was something extremely rare because i have never heard anyone else having more than 2 or 3 best friends. maybe it is, and I just have something special like the ames girls but i just wanted to write on here that this is an awesome book and the girls are just like mine.. perfect!

Just finished reading The Girls From Ames and loved every bit of it. "I'm from" Alleman which is a small town 15 miles south of Ames and graduated from ISU in 1998 so I feel like I could relate with part of the book. I too had many close friends in high school but with all of us going to different colleges, some having kids earlier than others, etc. we grew apart. I'm sending this to one of those friends, putting a list of who to send to next and hoping that in the end we too can rekindle our friendships and meet yearly (or more) like the Ames girls do. It's a part of life missing, there's nothing like the girlfriends from grade/high school. Thanks for opening up your lives for "us", it was a joy to read about yours.

In Quincy, IL now,
Jenny Peters

I have just finished this wonderful book of friendship...& have loved reading the comments...I'm in my mid-eighties, but THINK FORTY...stay busy with volunteering...I have had one REALLY close friend...from days in Evanston,IL when my husband went to NU on the GI Bill. My dear friend,Betty, was my neighbor & her husband was already a Professor...NU made it possible for us to live w/graduate students, because our son, Alan was born in 1947...I was from SA TX. Betty was from Pasadena, CA. In 1968 my husband as an engineer, was transferred from West TX to CA. I left 2 children at UT Austin...didn't want to leave TEXAS, but I would be near my friend Betty again
Betty & Alan are both gone now...Alan was killed in a motorcycle accident in CO Aug 2002 & Betty died suddenly Aug 2005... unexpected losses in my life.
I'm so pleased to find this up-date site...our Downey Library book club meets next week & I can't wait to share The Girls from Ames...My best wishes to all the girls.!!! Lois Wilson

I just finished Girls from Ames and did enjoy it. While I have friends from different times in my life, I do regret that I don't have the deep "group" friendships that they and the people writing on this site enjoy. Sometimes I attribute it to the fact that I never had children, it is certainly hard to make friends in the suburbs being "childfree". Whatever the reason, I have always felt that lack.Thanks for an entertaining and touching look into their lives, I hope they are followed in the future.

Girls from Ames meet the Girls from Wittenberg (that is Wittenberg University, in Springfield Ohio.) I could not believe it when I read a book review in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 about the book "The Girls From Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship." My disbelief, and excitement was generated from the fact that I was in final planning phases of organizing a get together for 11 women who became friends in 1977 during our freshman year at college, and pledging the Kappa Delta sorority. We have remained in constant contact (in varying degrees), and have gotten together on a regular basis (trying to do so in 5 year increments) since graduation. This special gathering was to mark our passage into the "half century club" as we all share 1959 birthdays, and such all turning 50 this year.

Our group of 11 met in Saugatuck, Michigan in mid-July. We had representation from Texas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Sadly, the friend who would have made us a dozen strong was unable to attend due to the complications of work, economics, gravely ill parent, and last child heading off to college. A destination planning team (DPT}, as three of us were coined, organized the long weekend, complete with purchase of 12 copies of the book!

The book, in addition to many other party favors - in a special gift tote - were handed out upon arrival. Having the books in advance I was able to inscribe all copies with a special message to each one of the dear women. In Michigan the 11 copies were passed around like yearbooks (as was the 12th copy for the absent friend.) All of us left the weekend with so many great memories, and a few too hours sleep - oh well. . . but one of the lasting memories will be our books with what I refer to as a "group hug." One friend who after reading, and very much enjoying the book, wrote to state. . . . "the best part, of course, is having the inscriptions to peek at when the need for a little KD friendship injection arises!"

There is so much a want to tell you about these girls, Karen R, Sharie, Caren, Sue, Mary, Barb, Karen T, Marcia, Nancy, Patty, and Laurie (in birthday order ) but I must drive my son to his SAT prep class! Know that we too have that special bond that you have enjoyed. We too have built that extraordinary friendship. We are as well a remarkable story, with the photo evidence to prove it. . . .I would love to share our group photo from our reunion!

Thank you for your book, and more importantly for the validation of the powerful nature of the friendship of women.

Most Sincerely,

Ellen Urda

I started the book last night, hated to put it down. But did, could not sleep, so I got up at 4:00 AM and finished the book.

There is only one really good friend from high school that I am still in touch with. We have gone a couple of years not being in touch, but when we do get together, it's like it was yesterday. She's moved back to our hometown, so I get to see her lots.

I retired from my job in 2001, got involved with The Sweet Potato Queens, and have found some of the best friends I ever had. We are from TX, AL, GA, CA, AR, FL, MS, OK, and I'm sure I'm missing a couple of states. But, we are "sisters' of the heart. We have a private message board and often have get togethers around the country. We have a beach week set up for October and we are all waiting for that week to get here. We have met up in Las Vegas for a wonderful weekend. If anyone ever announces they have a trip planned - beware - some of us will jump right in and go too. Some of us are going on a cruise to the Med next spring. They are who I turn to when my heart is breaking or I just need something funny to make me smile.

I also have my "Book Buds" - our reading group. Several of us have bonded and I cannot imagine having them in my life.

I cannot tell you how many "adopted" sisters I have, in addition to my "real" ones - 4 of them.

My husband and I are leaving in the morning for a trip to IL, IA, and NE. (We are trying to get to all the states and will only have 6 left after this trip.) Best part is, I will be only 30 minutes from Ames, so we plan a detour to go there!

Loved the book and all the characters. That is what they are to me - good, funny, sweet, tart, and everything a girl should be.

I'm thinking you could have a wonderful book with the responses that are written here.

I was given this book this summer on July 9th, as my friends and I gathered at my friend Sharri's home to give her support and comfort. She had lost her 16 year old daughter in a car accident on June 8th. We get together every year, but this time was an unexpected reunion. For those of us who couldn't make the funeral we knew we HAD to go as soon as we could. I had planned on giving it to "the girls" next summer at our gathering (we had agreed on Nappa), but it was sitting in the bedroom Sharri had prepared for my friend Sue and I. She gave us each a copy. As I read it I couldn't believe how it paralelled our live growning up in Fergus Falls, Mn. When I got to page 266 I stopped dead in my tracks. The story of Karla's husband taking the Ames Girls for a boat ride, and making them lunch (after the death of Christie) was beyond belief. We had just had this exact same experience with Jack (Sharri's wonderful husband)as we struggled to accept Lilly's death. I immediately sent Sharri a text asking her if she had read that page yet. I think what struck me most was how the "girls from Ames" always found laughter, even in the dark. My friends and I have the good fortune of that same bond. We shared many tears that weekend, but managed a couple good laughs as well. I thank the girls for sharing their story. It's an inspiration, but very familiar to me.

I am a 1982 graduate of Iowa State and grew up in northwest Iowa. I currently live in Dallas. The book did a tremendous job of documenting the Ames Girl's experiences and also my history. I detassled corn in the summers, went to the keg parties, and attended the concerts at Hilton Coliseum. Much of the book was a walk down memory lane.

The story about the naming of Jack Trice stadium was the first part of the book where I got choked up. It was unexpected and brought a flood of memories from my days at school. The story about the football player resonated strongly with me at 19 and even more today.

I have alwasy known that the work ethic, values and relational bonds of the people of Iowa are a gift to learn from. Thanks for sharing this view for others.

Now in my forties with children drifting off to college, I am also looking at the next chapter of my life and recognize that it will be the friendship of women that will sustain and drive me forward. Pain and suffering may come (it is all in the statistics right?) but as women we can join together to weather these storms.

The book came to me from my friend and I am grateful to her for letting me know about it. I will extend the favor and pass it to my mother and my other friends. I will also share it with my three daughters so they can better know their mother and the importance of building true relationships that can span a lifetime.

We are a group of seven. I suppose for the want of a better name, we could be called the Stonehill girls. Yes, Jane, your Stonehill. In September of 1964 the seven of us met on that small catholic college campus, and for forty-five years we have maintained a connection that is deeper than a family connection.
Two of us lived together in off campus housing because there was no girls' dormitory. Kathy and I were put in the same house because we came from furthest away. Kathy was from Maryland and I was from the Berkshires. Yes Jane, that Berkshires. (By the way, there is cell phone reception here. You don't have to climb to the top of Jiminy Peak.) In that first semester, four other girls, Maria, Mary, Roberta, and Barbara became our close friends, confidantes and drivers. In the sixties only the commuters had cars. Joan came the next year as a transfer student. Like the Girls from Ames, we stuck out and everyone knew us. Everyone thinks the sixties were full of students rebelling and organizing. We never rebelled against anything although we did participate in a "Love-In", which on a Catholic campus is a very tame occasion. I could ramble on forever telling about the trench coat crowd (boys,)the essence of Stonehill-the smell from the leach fields and other memories. But I won't.
I was struck so much by the parallels when I read the book. In our twenties we were busy with jobs (careers came later,) marriages and children. Now,gulp,in our sixies we have more timeand money to meet. We get together once or twice a year and always at the reunions.
One never married, one never had children, one had cancer, one has two special needs children, several of us have had husbands or children with cancer. No one has divorced and thank the Lord we are all still here.

I just finished reading The Girls From Ames and absolutely loved it!! I grew up in Altoona, Iowa, am 45 and found this book comforting of my childhood memories as well as the connections of so many high school girlfriends that I remain friends with today. My husband is an ISU graduate. My niece and nephew currently go to ISU. We love getting to Ames! What beautiful country.
One of my "adult life" girlfriends gave me this book as she thought I'd enjoy it. Her and I participate every year in The Breast Cancer 3-Day 60-Mile Walk along with 4 other friends. Since 2005, we have raised nearly $140,000.00 that goes towards breast cancer education, research, treatment and awareness programs. We walk for all families that have had this diagnosed to a loved one. Kelly and Angela ~~ stay strong, lean on your beloved sisters, all their e-mails, flowers, words of encouragement, and love that comes your way.
May you know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. We will be walking this year in your honor!

Kathy (Murphy) Abbott
1982 SEP Graduate
Altoona, Iowa (then)
Chandler, AZ (now)

I was sorry to finish reading "The Girls from Ames" because I was so caught up in their life stories. I'm pleased to know there is this site where updates are posted and I can find out how the girls are doing. It's a testament to a good author that the reader would feel so involved in the story as to want it to continue.
I wanted to share a bit of my story, though it's not nearly as remarkable as the girls' from Ames.
2010 will be the 50th anniversary of the friendship I share with my lifelong best friend, Sheila. We met when she moved in two houses down from us when my family lived in Indiana. We were 8 years old and have remained best friends ever since though we've never lived close by again. At one point we went 20 years without even seeing one another. We're thinking of celebrating with a cruise or trip to Disney World if we can find a way. Both our lives have been turned upside down by hardship caused by the economy.

I have moved many, many times all over the country throughout my life and have made other "best friends", no less valuable to me than Sheila. Linda, my best friend since Junior High, and I remain close and stay in contact. I have another friend I met in 1971 when we were both young mothers and we share emails daily. She's a wonderful friend and a woman I greatly admire for the valiant way she faced down horrendous tragedies in her life and thrived in spite of them.
Then I have Daphne, an older woman I met over 27 years ago when I moved to Virginia and she is a combination of mother, sister and best friend to me. I don't know what I'd do without her.
This book will touch hearts of women all over the world who have ever had a close enduring friendship whether within a group of other women or one on one. I for one thank you for all the memories it invoked of my friendships. When I finished reading the book I immediately called my BFFs and let them know how thankful I am to have them in my lives.

I just finished "The Girls from Ames" and kept thinking it was the girls from my town! We've lost a "niece" to Leukemia, fought with a sister through breast cancer, and have had a couple divorces as well. What MY girls have learned is that we are ALWAYS there for each other! And it is such a relief to just BE and LAUGH with friends who KNOW ALL THE CRAP and you don't have to relive it every time you talk if you don't want to. My newer friends, whom I love, seem to want to fix every problem. That is very sweet, but the acceptance of what IS from my girls is so comforting.

Thank you, Mr Zaslow and the Girls for sharing your story and letting us know that there are sisters out there just like us!