Lost Love Letter Recovered 60 Years Later

In the letter, a 21 year-old Dick Hauck proposes to his lifelong love.

By Kristin Wong Apr 5, 2012 2:33PM

On March 31, 1952, soldier Dick Hauck sat down to write a letter, and it was an important one. He was asking the love of his life, Arlene, to marry him. While 21 year-old Dick was stationed in the Army in Massachusetts, Arlene was living with her folks in Minnesota.

Sixty years later—contractors found the letter while they were remodeling Arlene's childhood home in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. One of the contractors told CNN affiliate KARE 11:

“When we stripped the linoleum back to reframe the wall to do what we had to do, there it was."

Last week, the letter was given back to Dick and Arlene, and Dick could barely reread his words, getting teary eyed with memories.

“I got your ring today. I sure hope you like it,” Dick read aloud. “I wish I could have gotten it long ago, darling.”

Choking up, Dick said: "the whole thing brings back memories."

"I had a box of letters from him," Arlene said. Amusingly, she seemed pretty matter-of-fact about the whole thing, while her husband was in tears. As KARE 11 mused: "She thought it was funny. She was like, 'ah, it's just a letter.'"

Arlene says she has no idea how the letter became buried in the linoleum, and insists she wasn't hiding it from her parents.

But Arlene did make sure to hold on to the ring. After sending the letter to his lifelong love, Dick soon sent her the wedding band, which she still wears to this day.

When asked what the key to a long, successful marriage is, Dick and Arlene agreed—it's friendship.

For more on this story: http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=970401

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29Comments

Newest

Apr 5, 2012 8:43PM

All of the comments on your love stories are amazing. Thanks for sharing and making my day.

Previous replies

THE COMMON-TATER

Apr 5, 2012 8:42PM

His heartfelt words and his true sense of being a very sensitive soul throughout his life

deserves far more than ..."ah...it's just a letter".

So many women and girls as well, take for granted the love of a man for them; the man

they marry or are about to marry; the man they married years ago, who they had children

with.....those men deserve more than being taken for granted.

I try to remind my husband every day that I appreciate him and everything he does to make

me feel good about myself, and all that we have as a couple and all that we have endured

as a couple. Someday, we won't be together and I so want him to know how much he is

loved and he makes me feel loved even more every day.

The woman in this story is luckier than she knows or even understands. Sad, but there

are so many more out there just like her.

Previous replies

Karen Hultgren (Karen999)

Apr 5, 2012 8:27PM

Sweet story!

Previous replies

PAUL SHAFFER

Apr 5, 2012 8:20PM

this is a beautiful story, let's hope america takes note and models their lives to emmulate it

Previous replies

DPistol

Apr 5, 2012 8:13PM

I am 1 of 12 children, and my parents have been married for 61 years. When the local newspaper asked them what the key to a long a successful marriage was, my father told them, "we made a pact....whoever wanted to leave first had to take the kids."

Previous replies

DILEWE

Apr 5, 2012 8:09PM

PS We have been together going on 11 years.

Previous replies

DILEWE

Apr 5, 2012 8:08PM

I met my soul mate and the love of my life. We are about as opposite as two people can be. He is Italian, from New York, and I am Portuguese from California. I was born in 1936 and he was born in 1948. We are never apart. He calls me everyday from work. If I am outside and don't answer the phone, he will drive all the way home to see if I am OK. We think alike, even to the point of saying something the other one was thinking. Completly off the wall things. He says we knew each other in another life and that we were good people. And this life is our reward. I believe him.