Man receives late mother’s baptism certificate found in 1955-postmarked letter

Lucas Woodward received his late mother’s baptismal certificate after a letter addressed to a California church resurfaced in August, bearing a 1955 postmark. The unexpected discovery came weeks before his wedding, giving him a keepsake from Pamela Jean Haslam, who died when he was a toddler.

The church verified the certificate against its handwritten records and traced Woodward, now 33 and living in Michigan, through local residents and genealogy records. His grandparents had been stationed near Alameda during the Korean War and may have left before the letter could be delivered. The US Postal Service said such old mail is often re-entered into the system, rather than remaining lost for decades; it estimated more than 11.5 trillion pieces of mail have been processed since 1955.