By Kate Lohnes

It began with a photograph.

It had been years since former Upper Arlington resident Linda Cummins (formerly Linda Snashall) had seen the image: a black-and-white shot of children, including her, riding bikes in the 1949 or 1950 UA Independence Day parade.

It had been even longer – almost 50 years – since Cummins saw one of the people in it: Cummins' childhood friend and neighbor on Waltham Road, Delma Grace Wernet. Wernet, who was two years older than her childhood playmate, graduated from high school in 1957, moved to California and fell out of touch.

Uncovering the picture was part of Cummins’ contribution to the book Images of America: Upper Arlington, a pictorial history of the city from the late 1800s through the mid-1960s. Co-written on behalf of the UA Historical Society by executive director Kate Erstein and Columbus resident Stuart J. Koblentz, the book was first published by Arcadia Publishing in May. Cummins joined dozens of UA residents and organizations in submitting photographs for the book.

“I saw in the Upper Arlington News that they needed old pictures for the book,” says the 67-year-old former resident (Cummins moved to Hilliard in 1993 with her husband Bob). “And I save everything.”

Seeing the photograph, which became the cover image for the book, brought back a host of memories for Cummins, she says. It also piqued her curiosity about knowing whatever happened to Wernet.

So Cummins decided to find out. At a private book signing at the Miller Park Library, Cummins saw a former classmate of Wernet’s who said she had an address to contact her. As it turns out, Wernet (who now goes by Grace Newman) lives in Columbus.

“I wrote her a long letter,” Cummins says. “I thought she might want to know she was a ‘cover girl.’”

Getting the letter was “totally amazing,” Newman says. Now 68, Newman spent several years moving around the country after she left for California (she lived in North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and Georgia with her ex-husband, who was a Marine). In 1978, Newman returned to Columbus, and has been in the area since.

After getting the letter from Cummins, Newman says she called her, and the two spoke for the first time in nearly half a century.

“We talked on the phone,” she says. “My first reaction was (it felt like) going home after all those years.”

The telephone conversation led to a face-to-face reunion: the pair agreed to meet at a June book signing for Images of America at the Upper Arlington Barnes & Noble.

“She told me about the book signing in the letter, so we said we’d meet up there at the book store,” Newman says. “She asked if I had blonde hair and I said, ‘No, it’s red now,’ and we talked about what we would be wearing. I had a feeling I’d know her anyway.”

The two friends reconnecting brought a special moment to the book signing, Erstein says. Erstein heard the womens’ story at the signing and lent a hand to take pictures of the reunion.

“This book brought them together,” Erstein adds. “I had heard of it happening (with other people), but it was neat to see it with Linda and Grace. It was heartwarming to be a part of the vehicle that brought them together. Without the book, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Both women describe the reunion as an emotional experience.

“Seeing Linda was healing,” Newman says. “You can be gone for 25 years or 50 years, but when you see the person, it’s like you’ve never been gone. The same feeling is there, and that does not go away, or the beautiful memories we had.”

Since their June meeting, Cummins and Newman say they have kept in regular contact via e-mail. They’ve caught up on each other’s lives, discussing kids and jobs. Many of the e-mails take on a nostalgic quality, as they remember fun times from their childhoods, from favorite games played to decorating their bicycles for that Fourth of July parade.

“It has brought back so many memories and good times,” Cummins says. “It’s so much fun to think about the past. We had such a wonderful childhood together. We would walk to school together. We climbed apple trees and caught frogs together. It was so different from what (kids) do now.”

According to Newman, her reinvigorated friendship with Cummins has helped her recall a simpler time in her life.

“For us, we would take card tables and put sheets over them to make a fort,” she says. “They were simple things. Life was simple back them. It was a wholesome era to grow up in.”

Most of all, Cummins and Newman say they both feel blessed to have rekindled the friendship they once had.

“The connection is still there,” Newman says. “It never left.”

Kate Lohnes is assistant editor of Upper Arlington Magazine.

An upcoming book signing for Images of America: Upper Arlington will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Nov. 1 at Huffman’s Market, 2140 Tremont Center. Copies of the book are still available for sale from the Parks and Recreation Department and the UA Historical Society, as well as at Huffman’s, Barnes & Noble, Borders Bookstore and Walgreens. The book costs $20 per copy. For more information, call 614-470-2610, or visit www.huffmansmarket.com.