On March 31, 1952, Dick Hauck sent a love letter to his
future wife, Arlene. The couple had written back and forth on a
nearly daily basis while Dick was serving in the U.S. Army. But
this letter, in which Dick formally proposed marriage to Arlene,
never reached its final destination until last week.
"I had a box of letters from him," Arlene Hauck tells CNN
affiliate, KARE11.
Contract workers found Dick's letter while they were performing
renovations in Arlene's childhood home. They gave the letter to the
couple, who are both still alive and married to each other, nearly
60 years after Dick first proposed.
And unlike in the 2001 film "Amelie," this decades-old love
letter is for real.
"The whole thing brings back memories," Dick told KSDK, while
fighting back tears. He was just 21-years-old at the time he wrote
the letter, in which he described the wedding ring he had purchased
for Arlene. She wears the ring to this day.
"I got your ring today, I sure hope you will like it," the
letter reads. "I wish I could have gotten it long ago darling."
A few weeks after the letter was sent, Dick returned from the
Army and delivered the engagement ring to Arlene in person. They
were married that June.