USPS Delivers Bittersweet Memory

Thanks to the determination of postal employees, 90-year-old Yancey Garner, who once served in the U.S. Navy, was reunited with a letter written by his 7-year-old daughter.  Garner was serving at a naval base in Key West FL in the 1950s.  


South Florida MDO Albert Iglesias found the letter in a tray from Tampa.  He contacted Communications Programs Specialist Debra Fetterly who tried to put together the pieces of the puzzle.  She contacted Homeland Security Coordinator Michael Balcom, a retired U.S. Navy Master Chief, who made a few phone calls and researched the internet.   Mike learned that the Garner Family lived in Silver Spring, MD.  Debbie contacted her Communications counterpart and then mailed the letters to her to contact the customer.  


It was a bittersweet reunion.  Unknown to the Postal Service,  the letter was delivered the day prior to the one-year anniversary of the accidental death of the daughter who wrote it.