Postcard arrives....82 years late

[<bleeding_heart>]

PORT CLINTON -- In September 1922, Roscoe St. Myer penned a message to his wife on the back of a romantic postcard, promising to write back when he heard from her again. He affixed a 1-cent stamp and mailed it to her rural Port Clinton home from someplace in Berea.

His postcard arrived at the Port Clinton Post Office -- almost 82 years later.

The historic correspondence arrived unexpectedly last week in a routine mail shipment from the U.S. Postal Service distribution center in Toledo. Postmaster Kay Tobey said she had no idea how the yellowed postcard ended up in the shipment, or where it originated from.

"Check this out. This is so cool," Tobey said, holding the postcard in her hands. "It's amazing that we can even still read it. It was done with pencil.

"I've never received anything like this before in all my years of service."

The mysterious postcard is postmarked Sept. 14, 1922, and was mailed to Mrs. Roscoe St. Myer, Port Clinton, Ohio, on the RD3 rural postal route. Tobey said rural routes during that era did not use numbered addresses -- carriers simply delivered mail to the appropriate houses.

The front of the postcard depicts a pair of lovers embracing and the title "Couldn't Resist You." Following is the text of the message, presumably written by Roscoe St. Myer:

"Berea

Sept 13-22

Dear Wife

Well got here all O.K. Everybody glad to get the lunch. Thought it was fine. Not much doing today no races yesterday. So did not miss anything. Will write more when I hear from you."

Adding to the mystery, the following sentence was written in blue pen across the back of the card: "I met her at my mailbox -- Lucky me -- John."

Tobey speculated that the postcard may have been accidentally placed in the mail by a collector. If Port Clinton postal employees had not taken special notice, she said the postcard could have ended up at a U.S. Postal Service mail recovery center in Atlanta, Ga., where it would have likely been tossed into the trash.

Tobey said her efforts to locate the St. Myer family have been unsuccessful. She even consulted Bernie Tibbs, a retired longtime rural postal carrier, who had no knowledge of a possible address.

"I think that their family would love to have this card," Tobey said. "This is quite a keepsake for somebody."

Source