SACO — James Edward Whelan and Joseph Grondin go way, way back ”“ like 85 years back.

“We’ve been friends all that time,” said Grondin.

Grondin turned 90 in October, and Whelan turned 90 earlier this month.

The two men became friends while attending St. Mary’s parochial school in Biddeford. Grondin had just moved to Whelan’s Beacon Street neighborhood. He didn’t know how to get home from school, and Whelan walked him to his house.

“He took me home and told me where I lived,” said Grondin.

The two grew up in Biddeford, and as adults, have both lived in Saco.

St. Mary’s was an Irish Catholic parochial school run by the Sisters of Mercy, they said. Grondin, whose mother was Irish and father was French, said half the students at the school had French last names.

The two would go home for their midday meal, because in those days schools didn’t serve lunch, they said, and Whelan remembers “hooking rides” home from a sleigh on a delivery truck headed to a bakery near their homes.

The two graduated from Biddeford High School in 1939. Grondin studied business administration at Northeast Business School in Portland, while Whelan went off to Bates, where he said he lasted 10 days. He said at 16 years old, he was too young to go off to college. Whelan said he “bummed around for a year” and learned how to play pool. One day, after getting her eyes examined, his mother suggested he become an optometrist.

“Next thing I know, she’s on her way to Massachusetts College of Optometry to sign me up,” he said. “In those days, you did what your mother told you.”

At the time, a student didn’t need an undergraduate degree to go to optometry school, he said.

Whelan took a break from optometry studies to attend the Maine Maritime Academy with Grondin. They roomed together with two other men over the course of a one-year program, and then both served in the Merchant Marines in World War II on separate ships.

“I sailed all around the world, and so did Joe,” said Whelen.

After his service, Whelan returned to Boston to complete his senior year of optometry school. He said that year was the only time he made the dean’s list, and he credits his academic success to the regiment of the Maine Maritime Academy.

“Frankly, it was the smartest thing I ever did,” said Whelan, of his time at the academy. “You learn discipline at the Maine Maritime Academy. At 20 years old, discipline is not your favorite subject.”

Whelan had a long career as an optometrist, and his daughter took over his practice, which is still operating in Biddeford.

Grondin worked many years in the banking industry, and also ran a gas station for a few years.

On Thursday, the two recalled riding bicycles when they were young and hitchhiking to caddie jobs at golf courses in Old Orchard Beach and Biddeford.

“That’s when you could let kids go out and do that,” said Grondin.

They recalled making about 70 cents per game, plus tips. Whelan said they got to know who the good tippers were. Whelan later became a caddie master, making $25 a week, which was a larger salary than his sister got as a teacher.

As adults, the two became members of the Biddeford-Saco Country Club and played golf together for many years, traveling to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and Bermuda to play the sport. Grondin still golfs.

When Grondin got married in 1946, Whelan was his best man, and when Whelan got married in 1950, Grondin was honored to fill the same role. They were godfathers of each other’s first-born child.

Grondin has four daughters and five grandchildren. Lurena, his wife of more than 65 years, died in May. Whelan and his wife, Lorraine, have four daughters, one son and four grandchildren.

The crossover continues in other parts of their lives as well.

The same apartment building in which Whelan and his wife lived when they were first married ”“ Thornton Hall on Main Street ”“ is now the building Grondin calls home. It has been converted into condominiums.

The two men have been there for each other during the important times of their lives, said Grondin.

“It’s an amazing friendship, really,” said Grondin.

“It’s just a question of which one dies (first), and we’re flipping a coin,” he said. “And what goes on from here on ”“ we don’t know, we could care less.”

“One day at a time,” said Whelan.

When asked the secret to living such long, healthy lives, Grondin credited it to heredity.

“There’s longevity in both of our families,” he said.

In all the years they’ve been friends, Whelan said he can only recall one argument, when they were at the Maine Maritime Academy ”“ and couldn’t agree on how to determine one’s position on the Earth by the stars.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.