Woman receives letter in mail written more than 50 years ago

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A Georgia woman said she just received a letter labeled "return to sender" that was originally mailed more than 50 years ago.

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Tene Tucker returned from a vacation to find a pile of mail greeting her at DeKalb County home.

"It was mostly junk mail, utility bills and stuff. And this was one of the last pieces that was in the stack. It stopped me in my tracks. 'What is this?'" she told WSB-TV's Berndt Peterson.

A letter was addressed to her home on Third Avenue in Scottdale, but it was originally postmarked in 1967.

"It's like opening up a time capsule. It just floored me, so I opened it and read it. It was pretty sweet," Tucker said.

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The letter was originally written by a Mrs. Betty Hayes, who lived in the house 52 years ago.

"It says, 'Hi son. How are you? I got your letter and was glad to get it,'" Tucker said.

Hayes wrote it to her son, Marvin Armistead, who was in the Air Force stationed at a base in New Jersey.

Last month, someone in Phoenix, Arizona, scribbled "return to sender" on the envelope, put a new stamp on it and dropped it in the mail. Five decades after the letter was written, Tucker said she felt obligated to try to find the family of this woman and her son.

"And remember, nobody can be more proud of you. My little boy, who is making himself into a great man," Hayes wrote.

"She took the time to tell her son she loves him, she was proud of him and what was going on in their lives. You can't get those memories all the time, especially in writing," Tucker said.

Tucker started spreading the word on social media to try to connect the letter with its rightful owners. The letter has since been returned to the woman who wrote it.

Cox Media Group