Letter delivered in Maine - 83 years after it was sent

SKOWHEGAN, Maine -- A letter written by a Maine school teacher in 1931 to her mother 150 miles away has finally been delivered - 83 years later.

Twenty-three-year-old Miriam McMichael sent the nine-page letter from Houlton to Dollena McMichael in Pittsfield. Both women have since died.

The letter was lost and only recently found at the Pittsfield post office. Postal worker Michelle Rowell found it and told the Morning Sentinel she knew it was old because of the 2-cent stamp.

The postmaster and town officials tracked down the family, and the letter is now in the hands of 69-year-old Ann MacMichael, of Cornville, Miriam's niece and Dollena's granddaughter. The spelling of the family name has changed.

MacMichael said the irony is that the writer apologizes for not writing sooner.

"She said 'I'm just getting around to write. I imagine you have been anxiously waiting for a letter all week. I have no excuses, but that I just didn't get to it and there are lots of things to tell you, too,'" MacMichael told the Morning Sentinel.