Calgary woman gets letter with 6-cent stamp 45 years late

A Calgary woman received a letter in the mail 45 years after it was posted.

The letter, mailed in 1969 from Lethbridge, was recently delivered to Anne Tingle’s new home in Calgary, wrapped in a plastic and cardboard with an apology from Canada Post for the damaged condition.

“So I pried the cardboard apart and inside was a little envelope and the first thing I noticed, besides that it was a little bit torn, was that it had a six cent stamp on it. And then I looked it over and it was a 1969 post mark,” she said.

The letter was addressed to "Mr. and Mrs. R.D. Tingle" and had the correct street name for the family's former home, but the house number was wrong, and it had no city listed.

“It was from my sister, from when she was nine. She had come to be the ‘mother’s helper’ after my second baby was born. And it’s a thank-you letter. It starts with a poem.”

Tingle says she has no idea how the letter got lost and how it finally reached her at her current address, although she did forward her mail when she moved.

“I don’t have a clue,” she said. “I think it’s the most wonderful, incredible mystery. And why are we maligning Canada Post when they do this kind of heroic thing for four and a half decades for six cents?”

Tingle shared the letter with her sister, who “couldn’t get over how adorable she was.”

The note from Canada Post read, in part: “Dear customer, we sincerely regret that your mail item is damaged. It was found in this condition in the mail stream. We realize your mail is important to you and we are always concerned when mail entrusted to our care is damaged.”