Several employees in Oregon worked together recently to solve a mystery: How did several postcards dating to the 1900s suddenly wind up lost in the mail?
It began when four undeliverable postcards arrived on the desk of Eric Korus, a Columbus, NE, customer services supervisor.
After he discovered the original addressee had died years ago, Korus began searching through death records to find clues to the person’s next of kin.
His search led to Nancy Feldman of Portland, OR, who said the vintage postcards were part of a collection of 15 written in the early 1900s by her grandfather, James Kacirek.
Feldman had mailed the collection in a package to the Vintage Merchant General Store in Weston, NE, which was originally called the Kacirek-Woita Brothers Store.
The package of memorabilia had opened in transit, and it appeared the other 11 cards were lost forever — until the Portland Post Office got on the case.
Armed with photocopies of the postcards, Administrative Assistant Rebecca Brundidge worked with a team of Portland employees to track down the remaining cards and return them to Feldman.
“I was stunned and so happy. It would have pleased my grandfather,” said Feldman, who noted he was not only a Weston storeowner, but also the town’s Postmaster.
Brundidge praised her colleagues.
“The Portland team did an amazing job remembering the postcards and tracking them down so we could give the good news to Mrs. Feldman,” she said.