When Doris (Holben) Schwoyer got married in 1971, she hoped to have her childhood friend Mary Ann Bundy be in the wedding.

The two grew up near Ironton together and went to Parkland High School for two years until Bundy moved to Northampton as a sophomore.

Bundy, now Mary Ann Schwartz, transferred to Northampton High School and they had not seen each other for 53 years until they met for lunch June 16 at the Coopersburg Diner and Family Restaurant.

Schwartz was not part of the wedding.

"I would have loved Mary Ann to be part of my wedding party," Schwoyer said, after warning she might cry during the interview.

Schwoyer set out to find her old friend after she came across old pictures of them and attended Schwartz's mother's funeral in February.

Although Schwartz was on a pre-planned trip to Florida and decided not to be at the formal funeral, her friend was determined to track her down by getting her phone number from the relatives at the funeral.

"That very same day I called her," Schwoyer said, her voice breaking. "I just couldn't wait to call her."

Schwartz was shocked to get a call from her old friend.

She was with her mother the day she died and said she could miss the funeral because she "was there for her when it counted."

Schwartz referred to the call from Schwoyer as "a blast from the past."

"I couldn't believe it," she said.

The old friends attended Ironton Elementary School together and Schwartz's family lived in a house they rented from Schwoyer's grandfather.

Schwoyer remembers the two growing up listening to songs such as The Drifters' "Under the Boardwalk" while looking for four-leaf clovers, momentos she kept in her Bible all these years.

"Those things are special to me," Schwoyer said. "The time when we grew up was special."

Schwoyer currently lives in Allentown and Schwartz now lives in Doylestown.