62 Year Old Love Letter Finally Delivered to Central Resident

By Mia Freneaux
    Central resident Kenneth Lewis pulled the aged envelope out of his mailbox a few days ago and thought it was an advertising gimmick.  His wife, Sylvia, asking whom it was from, glanced at the return address, and exclaimed, “Oh, it’s from ME!”  The postmark was dated – 1953.
    Back in 1953, Kenneth, whose family owned  the Lewis Café and Gulf Service Station on Airline Highway, was living in an apartment behind the station and dating a sweet young thing from Independence, Miss Sylvia McKnight.  “It was a 45 mile drive to Independence,” Kenneth shared, “I would drive out there once a week on a Sunday to see her.”   Sylvia smiled, “We didn’t call much because it cost so much.  Kenneth had to use an old time phone booth in front of the station, and I’d have to go to a neighbor’s house because we didn’t have a phone.”  Dates back then were either walks in the park or an occasional drive-in movie.  Most of their communication took place through letters.  “Kenneth had written me 3 letters and I hadn’t answered one,” Sylvia remembered, “so I wrote him an 8 page letter to make up for it.”  She was then surprised to hear nothing back.  “I finally called him,” she said, “and he said I’d never written back to him so he thought I was no longer interested!”  The letter had, apparently, been lost in the mail. After assuring him she definitely was, the couple ended up marrying 9 months later!  
    Kenneth and Sylvia moved out to Central the next year, built their first house, and have lived here ever since.  “It sure has changed,” Kenneth reminisced, “back then Joor Road was a one lane dirt road which was later graveled.   Allie Watts (grandmother of Central High School teacher Jeff Jones) had her dairy farm across the street, so it was all pasture, and the Abe Starkey family (of Starkey Academy) lived next to her.  The Prestridges and Crawfords also lived out here – we raised all our kids together.”  “If it was a heavy rain, we had to park on the corner of Lovett and walk to the house because the mud was so bad,” Sylvia added.  “There were blackberry bushes over the road, and deep ditches on either side.”  Now Joor Road is a 4 lane thoroughfare, and they eagerly look forward to its overlayment.  
    When the Plank Road overpass was built at Airline Highway, the government took the Lewis Café, so Kenneth’s dad opened Lewis Wrecker Service, still going strong in Central to this day.  Sylvia drove a school bus for over 30 years.  Now having raised children and grandchildren in Central, they look back on many shared memories.  “We’ve had an interesting and good life,” Kenneth stated.  “So far!” he added with a twinkle.  “If I hadn’t phoned him when I didn’t hear back, we might never have married, “Sylvia added, “so you see, it was a real love letter!”  Asked if she would change a word she’d written, she said emphatically, “Absolutely not!”  
    Gazing at the worn, yellowed letter, it is amazing to think that some dedicated Post Office worker took the time to look up Kenneth and find his current address, and even more amazing to think they’d honor the 3 cent stamp Sylvia bought to mail it – 62 years ago.

Pictured: Kenneth and Sylvia Lewis on their wedding day, with the love letter.