Love Letters Lost and Found

While my grandpa was fighting at the Battle of the Bulge 70 years ago, he wrote love letters to a young woman. After he returned home safely he married this young woman and they raised a family. They were happily married for 63 years before my grandma passed away in 2010 shortly after we returned to the US.

Growing up I knew that both my grandpas had been involved in World War II, but neither ever talked about it, even to indulge their grandkids. In the late 1990's that changed and my grandparents started to share their story with students and teachers. The volunteered their time and told what it was like on both sides of the Atlantic during the war, sharing photos and letters. My organized grandma collected highlights of all this information and compiled binders of history for each and every one of us in the family.

View image | gettyimages.com

Just before Valentine's Day this year, nearly 5 years after my grandma passed away, a local news station ran a story about a lost WWII love letter. The next day the story was picked up by national and international news outlets and most recently the TV show Inside Edition ran an expanded piece. Special thanks to Ilene who returned a valuable piece of history to our family.

2:39 PM EST, February 25, 2015 This mystery began as a woman bought a second-hand record, and found the surprise of her life inside: a 70-year-old letter, tucked in the sleeve!

 Ilene Ortiz told INSIDE EDITION, "I took it out and looked at it, and said 'Oh my God, this is a letter from 1945!'" A love letter, to be exact, and it broke Ilene Ortiz's heart. "I get emotional because it's a love letter! And someone should have it. It's not mine, someone else should get it. So I'm going to try to find him."

 Sure enough, she found the man who wrote the letter, and wait until you hear his story. He's a decorated World War ll veteran named Bill Moore, and he wrote this letter to his future wife 70 years ago, during the historic Battle of the Bulge. Bill's daughter, Melinda told INSIDE EDITION, "He was out there by himself all day in the cold and the dark and the snow, pretty lonely and miserable, and thinking of mom."

 When Bill mailed the letter to his beloved, he really didn't know if he'd ever be coming home. He explained, "You always have that thing in the back of your mind, I might never see her again!" As Bill read those words he wrote so long ago, he broke down crying. He read the letter to INSIDE EDITION, saying: "You have no conception of the depth of my love for you. I'm really the luckiest guy in the world, you know, and you are the reason, Bernadean..."

 Fate was on Bill's side. He survived the war and came home to marry Bernadean Gibson and have three children. They were happily married for 63 years until Bernadean's death in 2010. But whatever happened to that love letter? Well, that record containing the letter once belonged to Bernadean, and she apparently kept it there for safekeeping! The letter is precious to Bill's daughters as well. Melinda told INSIDE EDITION, "I was amazed by the emotional depth of it. Just to realize what my parents had."

 Sure, the pages have yellowed and the ink has faded, but Bill's love for Bernadean has not dimmed since he was a brave young soldier, dreaming of the girl he left behind. Bill read, "I love you. I guess I always will."
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And Finally Some Snow

The first two weeks of February brought the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships to Beaver Creek. It's a bit like a mini-Olympics for skiers, and all the big names in skiing are there. We watched the races a bit but ended up reveling in the totally empty mountain and had a great day of skiing. We're lucky in that several of the big name skiers train at Vail and Beaver Creek and it's not uncommon to share a lift or a run with someone such as Mikaela Shiffrin. Here's a view of all the race courses in the background of our very colorful skier.

 For Travis' big birthday he requested a ski trip here in Colorado to a ski area we don't normally go to. We narrowed it down to Crested Butte and Monarch and the timing of when we could go landed us at Monarch. We stayed at a hot springs resort nearby and enjoyed soaking in the warm river and pools after a day of better than expected skiing. We also stumbled onto a monthly art walk in Salida and spent most of a day in and out of galleries chatting with artists. All in all a pretty great long weekend.

We also got a decent sized storm here in Denver. Totals across the city varied widely, we ended up with a little less than 8" all of which landed over the weekend. Weekend snow means great sledding opportunities and when F and Emma discovered that their "secret" sledding hill was full of most of the neighborhood kids they were thrilled for the giant play date. Getting to each other was a bit tricky, Emma's gate was frozen shut (see the purple coated youngster in the background working the gate) and our gate was stuck shut by the weight of the snow on the opening side. The two intrepid pals were getting to each other one way or the other... Luckily Dad stepped in and manhandled our gate open and Emma bravely clambered over her fence (which is a little shorter than ours) and the two met in the middle for a day of snow play.

 Unrelated to snow, FFM presented several weeks worth of research and writing in the annual 2nd grade country night. He picked Ireland (yes, Australia was a close second) and filled an entire book with facts and details about the land of his birth. It was a great night seeing all the different books from all the countries and tasting foods from all over the world. F's other bestie, also named Emma, dressed in her native Ethiopian garb and made a lovely pancake similar to a French crepe.

Big Winner

FFM was selected to participate in our school district's annual art show. He was one of several kids from our school, and his piece was a chalk sunflower. The art show includes students from all grades in the district, from pre-K to seniors in high school. They are judged in groups, elementary, middle, and high school. Our little guy took second place overall for the elementary group (about 50 kids overall), and his art will be on display for another upcoming show at our local community college. His art teacher is over the moon, as is FFM.

His piece got a little damaged somewhere between school and the competition. He was a little concerned about that but realized the judges must have understood the wrinkles came from transport. Happy little guy, he was super surprised!