In this March 29, 2018 photo, Christine Combs, manager at Quality Inn & Suites, who found a postcard dated 1958 in a file cabinet while cleaning out storage, shows off the post card in Goshen, Ind. She delivered the postcard to the recipient, Sharon Gongwer, nearly 60 years later. (Ben Mikesell/The Goshen News via AP)
Republished April 05, 2018 - 5:33 PM
Original Publication Date April 05, 2018 - 1:51 PM
GOSHEN, Ind. - A northern Indiana woman has finally received a postcard that her mother mailed from southern California nearly 60 years ago.
The postcard was hand-delivered to Sharon Gongwer of Goshen last week by Christine Combs, the manager of the Quality Inn & Suites in Goshen. Combs had found it tucked away in a drawer while cleaning out cabinets.
The Goshen News reports the postcard dated Aug. 26, 1958, described in tiny, penciled print the adventures from her mother's time in southern California. On the front was a photo of palm trees lining a neighbourhood street. The postage was three cents.
"I looked at the date and thought, how strange is that?" Combs said. It was addressed to "Miss Sharon Ann Gongwer" of nearby Wakarusa, so she looked up the name and found the intended recipient residing at an assisted living centre near the hotel.
"It's a touch of my mother," Gongwer said. "I don't have many of her things anymore."
Neither woman knew how the postcard ended up at the hotel, but Combs said she was glad she came across it.
"Some people probably would have thrown it away if they found it," Combs said.
The postcard was well preserved.
"To have a postcard in this good of condition is amazing," Gongwer said as she thanked Combs for delivering the lost postcard.
"I'm glad I could make you smile today," Combs replied.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018