Phidon Story: Betty Anne Carse
I’ve just finished chatting with Mano about some new ink in the shop (oh how I love new ink!); I am so thankful to have fallen down this rabbit hole.
I received my first Sheaffer calligraphy set in the early ‘80s when I was an adolescent, and I filled my diary with beautiful peacock blue, violet, and green. I didn’t know what a stub nib was at the time, but now I can tell you I loved my 1.3 and 1.9 nibs. The more beautiful coloured ink flowing the better!
Betty Anne’s father’s beloved Parker Duofold and Irish Green ink in action!
In 1987, my father purchased a Parker Duofold Centennial in Blue Marble. I loved watching him cross out the formal salutations of friends on his business letterhead and scrawl the person’s first name in his signature Irish Green ink before signing “Yours very truly, Bob”. I have recently learned that this pen was also used by George H.W. Bush while he was in office.
I backpacked through Europe with a friend in 1990. While we were enjoying the Marienplatz in Munich, we met a translator for the German Chancellor who lent me his Lamy pen to jot down directions and some of his recommendations. When I exclaimed how much I loved his fountain pen, he gifted it to me – “there are plenty of pens where this came from”. I was thrilled!
As the years passed, I inherited my father’s Parker Duofold, with the ink dried and clogged, and my Lamy was lost in a move. I had not written with a fountain pen in years when I sat beside a kindred friend and colleague at a staff meeting and watched her pull out a Lamy Al-Star with its beautiful blue-green barrel. Oh, that I could express my delight in finding there were other penthusiasts in the world and a wonderful pen shop in the Tri-City where I could purchase a Lamy and inquire about the working of my beloved Dad’s pen!
That is how I came to fall down the rabbit hole on my very first trip to Phidon Pens. I am happy to say my father’s pen is writing beautifully again (although he liked a fine nib), my Lamy collection has every colour of the rainbow, I have acquired my favourite Platinum Century #3776 Music Nib pen (let the ink flow!), and Mano and Baldeep have become dear friends.
P.S. While rummaging through a box of old black and white family photographs, I stumbled upon a love letter written by my father to my mother – dated 1956 – it was in his signature Irish Green!
Thanks to Betty Anne for sharing this lovely, personal story of her love for fountain pens over the years! Betty Anne is always lovely to chat with, and we hope you get to meet her in the shop soon. This post was written as part of the Phidon Stories collection. If you’d like to share your story about your fountain pen journey or our shop, please send us an email at phidonpens@bellnet.ca.