Huntsville High School senior Alan Orduna remembers how much he liked the colors orange and blue when he colored a paper Flat Stanley as a third-grader in Luella Wood’s class in Huntsville.
Wood mailed Orduna’s Flat Stanley to the U.S. Army, and the two-dimensional character found its way into the wallet of a soldier stationed in Baghdad in the fall of 2004. The paper character, with an orange shirt and blue pants, spent nine years folded up in the back pocket of Brian Owens, who now lives in Phoenix. Owens reconnected with the teacher who mailed Orduna’s Flat Stanley and in November mailed back what was left of the colored piece of paper to Orduna.
Cutouts of Flat Stanley have traveled across the globe as part of The Flat Stanley Project, started in 1995 by a teacher interested in motivating children to write. The project is based on the 1964 children’s book Flat Stanley, by the late Jeff Brown. In the story, a little boy named Stanley Lambchop gets flattened by a bulletin board, but his paper-thinness allows him to be rolled up and mailed across the country.
A 10-page letter chronicled what happened during Owens’ life while Flat Stanley was a silent passenger in his back pocket.
“We’re a little rough around the edges, and not quite in the condition that we were in years ago, but we’re still here,” Owens wrote. “I know by now you are approaching the age when you will embark on your own journey. Might I make a suggestion? Pick up your adventures with Stanley where ours ended.”
The Flat Stanley Project started with about 10 classes that exchanged paper Flat Stanleys in 1995, said the project originator Dale Hubert, who taught for 31 years and is retired in London, Ontario, Canada. Children would draw and color pictures of Stanley to mail to one another. The recipient would respond by taking a photograph with Stanley and writing about an adventure with Stanley.The project has grown in 19 years to involve thousands of participants. Celebrities, politicians and servicemen have taken photos with Flat Stanleys.
Flat Stanleys sent to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have allowed children to reach out to the troops and to see them as fathers and sons, Hubert said.
“With Flat Stanley, you have a mutual friend,” said Hubert, who received several emails of stories published in national media about Orduna and Owens.
Owens hadn’t anticipated the publicity that would come with returning Flat Stanley to Orduna, but a co-worker shared a copy of the letter he wrote. He decided to share the story, with the hope that it would help other veterans who are experiencing tough times.
Orduna, 17, has few memories from his third-grade school year, but he remembers choosing his favorite colors when he colored his paper cutout of Flat Stanley, he said. His teacher told the students they would mail Flat Stanley. Orduna finished the assignment, moved on to the next project and forgot about it.
Owens, who served in the Army from 2000 to 2005, was a 25-year-old sergeant just starting his year-long deployment in Iraq when Flat Stanley arrived. The paper cutout was in a care package addressed to Owens’ unit.
Owens wasn’t familiar with Flat Stanley but was a father of young children and liked the idea. He folded up Flat Stanley, tucked the colored paper safely in his wallet and went on with his responsibilities.
In Baghdad, Flat Stanley remained in Owens’ wallet for dozens of combat patrols, a few firefights and mortar attacks and the detention of “a few bad guys,” Owens wrote to Orduna.
“He helped me protect a lot of good guys,” Owens wrote. “He was with me in Uday Hussein’s palace several times, as well as a few of his dad’s. He stood with me right next to the banks of the Tigris River.”
Owens’ unit was responsible for different elements of securing some of the most dangerous areas of Baghdad in the time leading up to the first Iraqi democratic elections in January 2005.
“My time in Iraq was not all that enjoyable,” Owens wrote. “I nearly lost my life several times, and some guys I knew did. I was going through a divorce from my children’s mother, as if I didn’t have enough to worry about as it was.”
Owens got custody of the children, and Owens’ parents became their guardians during his deployment. After his deployment, Owens returned to Silver City, N.M., and received an honorable discharge from the Army.
During the transition to civilian life, Owens struggled as a single dad raising two children on a low income and during bouts of unemployment. Flat Stanley remained with Owens when he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and when he learned he had suffered a back injury on a mission in Iraq. He and Stanley survived a crash in Owens’ vehicle that prompted Owens to pray in a moment when he was feeling like the biblical Job.
Owens’ letter to Orduna also detailed how his life began to turn around. An annual appointment with the Veterans Affairs Department gave Owens a new perspective. A copper mine reopened, providing Owens with a job. He was able to enroll in an online program to train in occupational health and safety.
He finished his college degree, remarried, became the director of safety and compliance for an industrial construction company and became father to a baby girl.
Stanley visited five countries and 14 U.S. states and rode in Caterpillar Haul trucks, a Bradley M-1 Fighting Vehicle, a Humvee and a Black Hawk helicopter.
Owens occasionally would see Flat Stanley still folded up in his wallet and would be reminded of a mission he hadn’t completed. He had misplaced the return address, but was hopeful he would one day be able to return Stanley.
One night in October, Owens ran across an envelope with a note from a “Mrs. L. Wood” giving instructions for Flat Stanley. Owens stopped what he was doing, did an Internet search for the school and hoped he sent an email to the right teacher.
She responded, and the two arranged for Flat Stanley to return to Orduna.
Orduna’s teachers in November arranged a ceremony at school after the package arrived.
Huntsville High School counselor Anna Chappell said the return of Flat Stanley has generated lots of attention for Orduna, who she described as self-sufficient, quiet and reserved. Most of Orduna’s peers had sent Flat Stanleys, but few of them were returned. They were excited to see one return, especially after so many years, she said.
Orduna was surprised to receive the package.
“This guy kept my Flat Stanley,” Orduna said. “I can’t imagine what it was like in his life. It was tough for him. He got his life straight. He served in the Army. I appreciate what he has done for our country.”
Orduna followed Owens’ instructions and keeps what’s left of Stanley, now missing a head and in several pieces, tucked in a blue pouch inside his wallet.
“I haven’t traveled a lot,” said Orduna, who will begin college at Arkansas Tech University in the fall. “I’m a country boy in Huntsville.”
Owens said he was following his instructions when he chronicled what had happened in his life with Stanley in his wallet. He wrote the letter to Orduna to offer hope, knowing that Orduna was nearing adulthood.
“You’re going to face hard times, but don’t quit,” Owens said he wanted Orduna to know. “You’ll be all right.”
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 04/05/2014