Some high school counseling sessions last about an hour; this one has gone on for 20 years.

Scott Bowen, now 41, met Rod Walsh, now 80, when Walsh was working as a high school adjustment counselor and Bowen was a student in elementary school. But it was at Amesbury, Massachusetts High School that the two formed a closer, albeit atypical, friendship that continues to this day.

“We just figured, let’s go out for a hamburger every month or so and we got into this routine, I guess, which is still going on today,” Walsh said. “Scott will call me four weeks from now and set a date for going out to lunch and we will go.”

While growing up autistic is a challenge enough, Bowen, who will fire off a returning visitor’s birthday at the drop of a hat, also lost his father when he was only 5 years old.

Around the same time, Walsh was making a career change.

“I started as a chemistry teacher in high school and I found a lot of the time, a lot of the kids would come up and talk to me after class,” Walsh said. “So I decided to study psychology and become a (adjustment) counselor. And as I became a counselor, I got to know people like Scott on a more personal basis because we talked about his personal stuff.”

Walsh would counsel Bowen in school and with Bowen’s mother Alice’s permission, the two would go out for a burger every now and then.

“I thought he was a wonderful man to do that,” Alice Bowen said. “He is patient and understanding of Scott.”

But making the jump from teaching chemistry to what is essentially social work represented more than a simple career move for Walsh.

“I sort of made a life commitment to help whomever I could to be as good as they could be, by just spending time with them and sharing with them and listening to them,” Walsh said. “So that’s what I have done with Scott, and he and I have really gotten very close.”

Once a month, the two meet for lunch. Lunch is often followed by mini-golf during the summer or a good car ride listening to the radio in the winter.

“We get along so well because he is a nice guy and a nice man,” Bowen said. “We talk about sports a lot.”

Walsh admits that life can sometimes get in the way of their monthly outings, such as when his wife, Mary, passed away two years ago.

“It was just the two of us for 43 years,” Walsh said. “So that knocked me off-kilter for a while, but it didn’t change anything between Scott and I.”

A few lunches were missed during Walsh’s mourning, but just like any good friend, Bowen understood.

“Well, we waited a little longer to go out,” Bowen said. “He is maybe a father figure or an uncle figure.”

Now on his own for the first time in his life, Bowen moved to an affordable housing community a little over a year ago, which has required an equal amount of adjustment from his mother.

“It’s difficult. He is just starting to get services and after a year being there he needs help and support,” Alice Bowen said. “That makes his disability a little bit better.”

Alice Bowen said that knowing Walsh will be by every month makes things a lot better.

“For him to persevere every month and to be there for Scott is amazing, given that he is getting on in age,” she said. “He is such a great guy and Scott looks forward to it every month, and makes sure he makes the plans and (Walsh) doesn’t get away with anything.”

As the summer and a new baseball season approach, the two old friends plan to continue their monthly trips.

“I think it satisfies my paternal instincts because I didn’t have any children of my own,” Walsh said. “But we are close friends. It’s togetherness, friendship. There is some love in there. A lot of love in there, I guess.”

Sullivan is a reporter at The Eagle-Tribune in North Andover, Massachusetts.