The snapshot rests on a table in Pat Jones' townhouse. It shows two little girls standing on a sidewalk, bundled up against the cold. Pat's coat is buttoned wrong.

        She looks at the picture and says, “Chris is my best friend forever.”

        Chris Shearer is the other girl in the photo, which was snapped four decades ago when they were 4 and 5 years old and were next-door neighbors in Oakley.

Pat Jones (center), with friends Vickie Ramey (left) and Chris Shearer. (Mike Simons photo) | ZOOM |

        Pat is 49 now and lives in Clermont County's Union Township. Chris is 48 and resides in Bridgetown. Though no longer next-door neighbors, they are still best friends. Chris was in Pat's wedding; Pat was in Chris' wedding.

        About 25 years ago they met Vickie Ramey, who became the third cog in this wheel of friendship. She's 48 and lives in Anderson Township.

        “We're like the three musketeers,” Pat says. Which is to say, three has never been a crowd. But she is hard pressed to pinpoint exactly what it is that has made their friendship so special.

        Maybe for Pat and Chris, it's the shared experience of growing up.

        “We had a party line,” Pat says. It connected to Chris' home. “It was really cool. We could say, at 7 o'clock, pick up the phone and we'll decide what we're gonna do.”

        “We used to have block parties,” Chris says. “We ran an extension cord from (Pat's) basement to the street. And we'd have the record player out there playing 45s: The Supremes. The Temptations. We'd have a big party in the street in the summertime.”

        Maybe their years together at Withrow High strengthened the friendship.

        “My brother was in Vietnam and left his Corvair at home,” Pat says. “I got to drive it (to school). There were a few times Chris and I decided we couldn't find a parking spot, and we'd go off in our little red Corvair and drive around for a few hours because there were classes we just couldn't bear to go to that day.”

        Probably they became closer when Chris, at age 18, told Pat her life was about to change.

        Chris: “Finding out I was pregnant, and not having a receptive response from the father and my parents, she helped me through that.”

        When they met Vickie through mutual friends, the three of them clicked. Heck, all three drove Volkswagen Bugs.

        Eventually all three friends married. Each had one child. Pat chose the name for Vickie's baby.

        Unfortunately, all three were in relationships or marriages that failed about the same time. Maybe that's when they saw the true value of friendship.

        Vickie: “I don't know what we would have done without each other at that time. Our friendship was better than any therapist.”

        Pat: “We really got close, because every weekend we were entertaining each other so we wouldn't be bored and lonely.”

        Vickie: “We had a Thanksgiving dinner at my house. It helped us through all those crummy feelings you can have when things aren't going right. We all held hands and said a prayer. It was the most meaningful Thanksgiving. We were really thankful for each other.”

        They've always counted on each other. When Vickie was sick and went to the hospital, Pat and Chris showed up in her room late at night. When Chris had a broken wrist, Vickie or Pat came over to set out her trash.

        Now they are approaching a milestone. “We're trying to plan a trip for when we turn 50,” Pat says, “maybe go on a cruise or something.”

        They're entitled to that, but a big splurge isn't what defines this friendship.

        Vickie: “The best getaway that leaves me feeling good is when, on the spur of the moment, Pat will call and say, "Hey, I've gotta run over to Chris's. Want to ride over with me?' ”

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