Originally published 2017-05-26.
On May 4th, 1945, Virginia was writing a love letter to her husband, Rolf Christoffersen, who was a sailor in the Norwegian Navy. She was writing this letter to inform him about her pregnancy. Unfortunately, the letter was never delivered and was marked “return to sender.”
After 72 entire years, the letter was found by the new owners of the Christoffersens' old house. The family was amazed by the love story and decided to find Rolf. After some research online, they managed to find Rolf's 66-year-old son, who informed his 96-year-old father immediately.
“I love you Rolf, the way I love the hot sun, and that's what you are for my life,” Virginia wrote in her letter. “The sun about which everything else revolves for me”.
In the picture, you can see Rolf and Virginia when they were young. They never lost each other. Rolf came back to Virginia and they lived a happy life with their kid. However, when the man finally received the love letter, he became very glad since his wife passed away six years ago.
Written by Katerina Papakyriakopoulou
The delay gives ordinary words another weight
A letter written for an immediate moment can become a very different object when read decades later. The pregnancy news, affectionate language and original date connect the reader to a period that can no longer be revisited. Its value lies partly in hearing a familiar person's voice through words they chose for everyday life.
Preserve the context with the keepsake
If you keep family letters, record the sender, recipient and any known dates alongside a careful copy. An envelope, a note about where it was found or an explanation of a nickname can later matter as much as the central message. The story offers a reason to value those details while someone still remembers them, rather than waiting for chance to reconstruct their meaning.
How the letter was found
The letter turned up in Westfield, New Jersey, in 2017, when Melissa Fahy and her father, Al Cook, were renovating her new home; it was lying in a gap under the attic stairs. “I reached up and I pulled it out of there,” Cook said. Postmarked in May 1945, it had been stamped “REFUSED” and sent back to Virginia, and it had apparently slipped through a crack and stayed hidden for decades. Fahy posted about it on the Westfield Moms Facebook page, and within two hours members had traced Virginia and Rolf’s son in California, who read the letter to his father. Virginia had died six years earlier.
Sources: NBC New York, 10 May 2017: NJ WWII veteran united with lost love letter from his late wife hidden away in cracks of home Smithsonian Magazine, 16 May 2017: 72-year-old love letter returned to WWII veteran
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