Couple Hopes to Reunite Love Letter With Owner

The sweet message, written in 1957, was discovered in the trash.

ByABC News
October 27, 2015, 2:24 PM

— -- In a time of texts and e-mails, handwritten love letters can be few and far between. That’s why when Frank VanNostrand found a very old love letter in the trash, he wanted to make sure that it got back into the hands of its original owner.

VanNostrand reached out to ABC affiliate WVEC with the hope of putting the letter back in the hands of Anne Walton, to whom it was addressed. The letter was written and postmarked from Miami on Nov.20, 1957, and was signed simply: "Your lover.”

Over the last six decades, the letter became yellow and stained, but the endearing message -- preserved in ink -- is still clear as ever.

PHOTO: Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.

“I want you in my arms so very much, honey, and believe me, no one else will ever do,” the author writes. Anne’s “lover” talks about visiting Miami when the couple gets married, and jokes that she is worrying too much while the couple is separated.

“I still love you, sweetheart,” the letter says, “and I really miss you something awful, too.”

PHOTO: Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
PHOTO: Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.

VanNostrand is an electrician, and says he found the letter in a dumpster on one of his job sites. “It just didn’t seem like something that should be thrown away.”

He showed the letter to his wife Jamie, and she says it brought back similar memories from her deployment with the Navy.

The VanNostrands want to reunite the intimate message with its rightful owner. In the meantime, they have hopes that Anne ended up marrying her “lover,” and are still living happily ever after.

PHOTO: Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
PHOTO: Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.
Frank VanNostrand and his wife are trying to reunite this love letter, written on Nov. 20, 1957, with the woman it's addressed to.