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CNN Live At Daybreak

Kansas Hotel Receives Postcard Postmarked from 1909

Aired August 08, 2001 - 08:41   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Just imagine going to your mailbox, finding a postcard with a one-cents stamp on it, postmarked 1909, and then imagine being curious enough to try to find out who was supposed to receive it. Well, that is exactly what's happened to our next two guests.

We're joined now by Leslie Stevens, who works at the Kansas Inn in Wichita where the card was delivered, and Ruth Laurence. She's 89 years old, lived all her life in Wichita, and she believe the card was meant for one of her relatives.

Good morning to you both.

Good morning. Good morning.

MCEDWARDS: Leslie, could you start by telling us what happened when you found this card?

LESLIE STEVENS, KANSAS INN: Well, it was delivered with the rest of mail, just like usual, at the front desk, and we went through it, trying to figure out if it was a guest or possibly a patient at the hospital, Saint Frances, across the street, which sends a lot of guest our way. And we couldn't find who this Ruth Lawrence was. And just looked a little more closely and found out that it was a very, very old postcard.

MCEDWARDS: Now you've got Ruth Lawrence sitting beside you.

Now, Ruth You think intended for a relative, correct? Now, Ruth, explain that.

RUTH LAWRENCE, LIFELONG WICHITA RESIDENT: A friend of mine had listened to the broadcast and told me that the card had been received at the motel. And I recognized the fact that the Ruth the Lawrence to whom the card was addressed had been an aunt of my husband's.

MCEDWARDS: And what makes you sure about that, that it was intended for her?

LAWRENCE: Well, the fact that it was addressed to 1011 North Topeka, immediately I realized that was the address of her father and mother's homes many years ago. That they would have been the grandparents of my husband. So it just all seemed to fall into place as far as I was concerned. MCEDWARDS: So that home I guess was on the same location that this hotel is at now?

LAWRENCE: That's right, the whole block of houses were razed in order to build the motel, which had been here for a good many years.

MCEDWARDS: Ruth, do you have any idea who it is from?

LAWRENCE: I'm sorry?

MCEDWARDS: Do you have any idea who is from? Who wrote the card?

LAWRENCE: No, the signature is the last name of the man that Ruth Lawrence married. But I don't recognize -- it's from a woman, and I don't know who they might have been.

MCEDWARDS: And can you give us an idea of what's written on it? We're seeing sort of pictures over it, but we can't see the words. What kind of message is there?

LAWRENCE: Well, it's just a friendly little message from one girl to another, I think.

STEVENS: Yes, it was from a friend who was traveling and on her way to Iowa, and had asked this Ruth Laurence to send her a postcard. And that's about it. I guess she was just on a trip, and just sent a little note.

MCEDWARDS: Leslie, you must have been pretty surprised when you got your mail that day.

STEVENS: Oh, yes, we were very surprised. We actually noticed that the postmark and then we noticed the one cent stamp, and that's the only postmark on there, so we thought where has this been on the time? Possibly you know someone's -- we were hoping someone had seen it and go ahead and decided to go ahead and drop off at the correct address, so.

MCEDWARDS: So, Leslie, what's going to happen to the postcard now?

STEVENS: Well, you know we're talking to Ruth, and we will try to find out if this is her family, which is it sounds like may be. If she's interested in for sentimental reasons, and so that's probably what we will end up doing is, you know, talking to her about it and seeing if that's something she'd like to keep.

MCEDWARDS: It's a great story, and I thank you both for your time. We hope everything gets sorted out here.

Ruth Lawrence, Leslie Stevens, thanks for joining us.

LAWRENCE: Thank you.

STEVENS: Thank you. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com