Samaritan Discovers 65 Love Letters at Antique Store, Knows She Must Find Rightful Owners
Bonnie Hanlon knew she’d stumbled across something important when she found a bundle of 65 hand-written letters at an antique store in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
The letters were all addressed to a Miss Joan C. Koelzer and signed “Always, Don.” Many were on 39th Infantry Regiment letterhead and dated back to the 1950s.
“Waiting, praying and hoping that time passes quickly, so I can come home to you,” one letter read.
“My dearest Joan, You look great angel, not just tonight, always,” read another.
Sure these were wanted items that would help illuminate someone’s past, Hanlon started searching for the names online, eventually browsing Ancestry.com and connecting with a Carol Cuttler, who turned out to be the couple’s daughter.
“I was thrilled to find out that they got married and also found someone else was researching them,” Hanlon said, according to WCBS-TV.
For Cuttler, these letters were a surprise. She hadn’t known they’d even existed, but they gave her a glimpse into her parents’ lives.
“It’s a whole different side of them,” she said, “before they were parents and grandparents.”
While she hadn’t known about these letters before, she knew how they must have found their way to the antique store. Both elderly parents passed away within months of each other about a year ago after nearly 70 years together, so she’d helped organize an estate sale.
“We had an estate sale because it was such a big job,” she said. “Along the way, these must have been misplaced in something that we got rid of.”
“This puts a whole puzzle together that I never knew existed,” she said.
She also appreciated the softer side of her father that the love letters illustrated.
According to Cuttler, Don “had a big bark at times, but everyone always knew he had a great heart, and it shows in all these letters, definitely.”
Hanlon’s happy the letters got back to the family, and Cuttler is using this example as a reminder of a principle she has carried with her and reminded her students of.
“I’m a teacher and always telling my students, you know, acts of kindness,” she said, “and this is the ultimate act of kindness.”
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