Forever friends: Longtime neighbors still connected despite life changes
By Kevin Wallevand
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MOORHEAD, Minnesota (WDAY) — Sometimes, neighbors on your block or living on a nearby farm become lifelong friends.
For a much loved retired school teacher from Moorhead, a generation gap has never stood in the way of a beautiful friendship that started more than a dozen years ago in a south side neighborhood.
Despite life changes, and more than 70 years separating them, the two are more connected than ever.
At 90, Clark Tufte scoots down the halls of Touchmark, ready to take on another day. But there is something special about their reconnection on Tuesday, Dec. 2.
Kenzie Case is at Touchmark for another visit.
“How are you?” Case asks Clark as they stroll down the hall at Touchmark. “You have a busy week?”
Case is 16, a busy junior at Moorhead High School. But her friendship with Tufte goes back to when she was just a toddler.
“I remember every day after school, he would be sitting in his garage and he would wait for me to get off the bus. And we sat and talked about school,” she said.
Case, on a short break from high school, took down the decorations for Thanksgiving.
“We decorate the tree for all the seasons,” she said.
Tufte’s family will decorate for Christmas. But as Tufte will tell you, Kenzie has been there for him. He, for her. And everyone in both families couldn’t be happier.
“I love her so much and she loves me. And what I really, really appreciate is that my family welcomes it. None of them live here and my grandchildren and my kids, they just welcome it,” Tufte said.
Think of that, a simple conversation in a neighborhood driveway between a grandfather and toddler was so meaningful 13 years ago.
“I have enough love to go around,” Tufte said, laughing.
The friendship is only richer today.
“It is super nice, he is just one phone call away if I need anything. He is always there to talk,” Case said.
We change as we age. Meaningful connections like this, they sure don’t.
“I have to hug you. I am going to cry,” Tufte said, choking back tears at the end of the visit.
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