Anthony Georgetti, special to The Botetourt View

Longtime friends Mary Bess Smith (left) and Terry Tucker.

Fincastle residents Terry Tucker and Mary Bess Smith have lived down the street from each other about 16 years, but have been family for even longer and friends for longer still. They met 21 years ago at a softball game that Smith's cousin, and Tucker's future husband, Paul Tucker was playing in.

When Terry Tucker and Mary Bess Smith began talking the two hit it off and Smith thought that Tucker would be a good match for her cousin Paul. The cousins had both just returned to Botetourt County from school. Both had found that few of their friends had returned to the area after college and in Smith's words "I was ripe for a friend and Paul was ripe for a girlfriend." The two have been good friends ever since.

When Terry Caldwell married Paul Tucker, Smith lived with the couple for two and a half years. When Smith married Charlie Smith they moved down the street and the two friends continued to spend much of their time together.

Over the years the friendship has changed as Smith and Tucker became more home oriented. While they used to spend a lot of time going out, today Smith and Tucker spend most nights talking together on the Tuckers' front porch while their kids play together in the house or back yard. Beyond family ties, the two credit several qualities for the longevity of the friendship.

They compliment one another. While Tucker admires Smith's mathematical mind, and handling of her demanding career as the Director of Internal Audit with Norfolk Southern, Smith admires Tucker's ability to juggle her job as Curves Public Relations Manager, her kids, and always keeping her home in order.

But the main thing that keeps them together is their shared ability to find fun in the events of daily life, like the New Year's Eve they uncharacteristically went to get manicures before their annual party. While both consider themselves to be "no frills," that particular holiday, Smith and Tucker waited over two hours to get their nails done, all the while fretting over the holiday preparations they'd yet to complete. Minutes after the procedure, on their way home they simultaneously pointed at a deer, scratching their nails against each other and ruining in five minutes the manicure they had waited for over two hours for. While many would let this ruin a day, Smith and Tucker just had a laugh about it.

Everything they do is fun because they do it together. Smith added, "When you've been in some of the embarrassing situations we've been in together you have to be friends."