Ask Amy: Lost love letters should be returned to sender
Dear Amy: In the early '30s, my uncle attended college in North Carolina.
He met a girl and they fell in love. When he graduated, he moved back to his home state, and she stayed in North Carolina.
They exchanged letters through 1933 or so, but the long distance doomed the relationship. He apparently was devastated at the breakup and saved all of her letters.
My uncle died in1979 and I inherited all of his estate, including all of her letters (about 120), pictures, and other small items she had sent to him.
In trying to decide what to do with them, I found her family on the internet. She passed away in 2002 but has a large extended family.
I composed a respectful letter to her oldest son (who is in his late 70s), telling him what I have. I specifically apologized at the beginning of the letter if he thought this was an intrusion into their family's life, but on the other hand many people these days do genealogy research, and would love to know all about their family's history.
I have not sent the letter. My family is pretty split over this. Some say to just throw this stuff out, while others agree that I should contact the family. I don't want to upset them over their grandmother's love affair with someone they've likely never even heard of.
What do you think I should do?
-- Conflicted
Dear Conflicted: Do NOT throw out these letters and photos. Contact the woman's son, accurately describe what you have, and offer to send the collection to him.
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