Better Late Than Never? Love Letter Arrives After 53 Years

Can love endure the test of time? For one California man, that love certainly has been tested.

The Pittsburgh Tribune brings us a bittersweet story about a love letter lost in limbo for over a half-century, finally reaching its destination on...Memory Lane!

A love letter mailed more than a half-century ago from the Hill District to a student at California State Teachers College, now known as California University of Pennsylvania, finally arrived Friday, school officials said.

Postmarked Feb. 20, 1958, the letter was intended for Clark C. Moore, said university spokeswoman Christine Kindl.

The envelope is affixed with four one-cent stamps and was slit open when it arrived, she said. The letter came from Whiteside Road in the Hill District, since renamed Memory Lane, and is signed "Love Forever, Vonnie."

Unfortunately, however, the recipient of the letter might forever remain at large, as University officials cannot find records of Moore's attendance:

University officials searched school files and the Internet, including websites such as Yearbook and Facebook, but could not locate Moore, who was a junior in 1958 living in 219 Johnson Hall, Kindl said. They believe he hailed from Herron Avenue in the Hill District and was an alumni of Schenley High School, she said. He would be in his 70s.

The Post Office is still reportedly trying to figure out how the letter found its way into the mail system instead of the dead letters file. One Post Office spokesman believes someone found the letter and slipped it into circulation, like the movie "Cast Away."

University officials say they plan to hold the letter for safe-keeping until Moore can, hopefully, be located.