In August 1975, Effie Presley of Mount Vernon mailed a birthday card to her daughter, Willa Presley Davis, in Calion (Union County).
Forty-six years later, it was finally delivered.
Along with the card was a three-page letter to Davis, whose birthday is Aug. 22.
"It was so touching to see my mother's handwriting," says Davis, 88. "Opening it was very strange, but wonderful. We were very close."
Here's Davis reading from parts of the letter, which was postmarked Aug. 19, 1975, and addressed to her and her husband, William Ellis Davis, whom everyone called Bill.
"Sunday night, 7 o'clock.
"Hello, Willa and Bill. How are both of you? Bill, sure hope you are feeling better. We are OK for old folks ...
Willa, have a good birthday. We love all of you and hope to see you soon. But if you can't come, we will be thinking of you on your birthday.
"Love, Mom and Dad."
Effie died Aug. 7, 1982; Davis' father, James "Buck" Presley, passed away Nov. 1, 1999, and Bill died April 21, 1999.
"My mother and daddy were such precious people," she says. "You can't imagine it until you receive something like that, something from the dead. It was so touching."
Davis' daughter, Bobbie Davis, lives in San Francisco.
"My reaction on hearing my mom tell me about the special letter was absolute pure joy and elation," she says in an email. "Tears of happiness spilled down my face after hearing my grandparents' words being spoken aloud after so many years of missing them."
The card, affixed with a 10-cent stamp, was taken to Davis on Feb. 22 by her neighbor, Brenda Leopard, who picks up Davis' mail each day at the Calion Post Office.
"I wonder where it has been all this time," says Davis, who moved with Bill to his hometown of Calion in May 1975, after he retired from the Marine Corps. She is also a Marine Corps veteran and met Bill while they were both stationed at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C.
Natiya Mays is the clerk at the Calion Post Office.
"I looked at the card and saw the date and was like, wow, that's pretty old. Why has this mail been lost this long?" she says.
She couldn't explain where the letter had been the past 46 years.
"It was with the bundle of mail that we get every morning to put in the P.O. boxes," she says.
Davis saved all of the cards and letters her mom sent over the years. This surprise time capsule from 1975 sits on her coffee table, she says. Relatives have stopped by to see it and take photos.
"It's wonderful to let people know that these things happen. It just touches you with such a wonderful feeling."
After we spoke with her last week, we learned that Davis had received even more mail from the past. We'll address that here next time.
email: sclancy@adgnewsroom.com