Man Finds Little Brother's Note to Santa 50 Years After His Death

— -- Ray Trench found the greatest Christmas gift of all tucked away inside an old encyclopedia.

It was an almost 50-year-old note from his little brother Paul to Santa. Paul died shortly after the note was written when he was just 9 years old. The cause of death was a blood infection.

Interestingly, Ray's favorite memory of Paul, he said, also has to do with that last Christmas.

"My fondest memory was the excitement he showed when going to purchase his very last Christmas present for mum and dad," said Trench, who is from the U.K. "He bought them a small gold-colored plastic crusader figure which he carefully wrapped up and presented to mum and dad on Christmas day."

Paul died about six weeks later on Feb. 2, 1967. "That last little gift became one of my mother's most treasured possessions and took pride of place in her family keepsakes despite it costing only a few pence, perhaps today about 20 cents," Trench said.

Ray said the note's simplicity struck him in comparison to the many demands some kids make on Santa today. Sharing the note, he said, "honors his memory as a little boy who valued the love of the family above material possessions."

The note reads: My Santa List

A Subbuteo Game

England v Argentina only

A torch

and some buses

and cars

thats all

Santa

"He was a bright young man who enjoyed playing board games such as Monopoly, Risk and Totopoly and like most young people, he was a bad loser," remembered Trench. "I heard recently from someone who was at school with him who said he was very popular little boy and he remembers him fainting in school assembly one morning and having to be taken out. He died not long afterwards."

Ray said he was initially surprised when he found the letter, but then saddened that his mother and father passed without ever knowing it was there. "I know they would have treasured it as much as I do now," he said.

He hopes that by sharing the letter, the memory of his brother will be kept alive. There are "few of us left now," he said of those who loved Paul. The letter, he said, "shows that it is appreciation of the little over the expectation of the lot which ultimately leads to contentment."