by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Here is a bit of oddball history that has recently been in the national press:
Mary Foss was twenty years old and still single when she and some friends who were at work packing eggs into cartons at a factory in Iowa decided to have some fun by putting a simple message on a few eggs. The note that Mary put on four or five eggs read: "Whoever gets this egg, please write me. Miss Mary Foss, Forest City, Iowa, April 2, 1951."
They knew the eggs were being shipped to the east coast and thought that at least one of them might get lucky and snag a pen pal through their efforts. None of them had any luck making contact with a stranger - until this year.
Mary had always wanted to see New York City, and she was hopeful of making a connection with someone from there.
Mary Foss got married not too long after she sent her egg messages to the east coast, and she became Mary Starn. Mary is now ninety-two. She has two daughters, the oldest of whom is now seventy. Mary's girls grew up hearing stories of the fun that Mary and her friends had while they worked at packing eggs, and they had heard about their mother sending out eggs with her name and address and never receiving any replies.
Most of the eggs on which the girls wrote their names and addresses were undoubtedly cracked and eaten, but one was set aside as a curiosity by a fellow who had found it in a dozen eggs that he had purchased in New York City. The guy set the odd egg aside for fifty years or so, and then about twenty years ago he came across it while he was living in the New York Burrough of Staten Island and gave it to a young neighbor.
This year that neighbor, who now lives in New Jersey, came across a feature on Facebook entitled: "Weird and Wonderful Second Hand Finds that Just Need to be Shared," and he posted the story about the egg which was still in his possession. Several Facebook readers took an interest in the egg with a message, and helped to spread the word - and eventually it was noticed by a cousin of Mary's oldest daughter.
After several phone calls and much disbelief, Mary Foss Starn learned that one of the eggs that she had so carefully marked seventy-two years ago had survived and was still in tact. (The center had dried over the years, but the shell was still whole.)
The egg's current owner, a Mr. Amalfitano, said that he is looking for a museum or historical society to which he could donate the egg that would preserve it and tell Mary's story. Mary said that she is glad to have a new friend. “I’ve finally gotten my pen pal,” she said, “and it only took seventy-two years!”
Citizen Journalist
Here is a bit of oddball history that has recently been in the national press:
Mary Foss was twenty years old and still single when she and some friends who were at work packing eggs into cartons at a factory in Iowa decided to have some fun by putting a simple message on a few eggs. The note that Mary put on four or five eggs read: "Whoever gets this egg, please write me. Miss Mary Foss, Forest City, Iowa, April 2, 1951."
They knew the eggs were being shipped to the east coast and thought that at least one of them might get lucky and snag a pen pal through their efforts. None of them had any luck making contact with a stranger - until this year.
Mary had always wanted to see New York City, and she was hopeful of making a connection with someone from there.
Mary Foss got married not too long after she sent her egg messages to the east coast, and she became Mary Starn. Mary is now ninety-two. She has two daughters, the oldest of whom is now seventy. Mary's girls grew up hearing stories of the fun that Mary and her friends had while they worked at packing eggs, and they had heard about their mother sending out eggs with her name and address and never receiving any replies.
Most of the eggs on which the girls wrote their names and addresses were undoubtedly cracked and eaten, but one was set aside as a curiosity by a fellow who had found it in a dozen eggs that he had purchased in New York City. The guy set the odd egg aside for fifty years or so, and then about twenty years ago he came across it while he was living in the New York Burrough of Staten Island and gave it to a young neighbor.
This year that neighbor, who now lives in New Jersey, came across a feature on Facebook entitled: "Weird and Wonderful Second Hand Finds that Just Need to be Shared," and he posted the story about the egg which was still in his possession. Several Facebook readers took an interest in the egg with a message, and helped to spread the word - and eventually it was noticed by a cousin of Mary's oldest daughter.
After several phone calls and much disbelief, Mary Foss Starn learned that one of the eggs that she had so carefully marked seventy-two years ago had survived and was still in tact. (The center had dried over the years, but the shell was still whole.)
The egg's current owner, a Mr. Amalfitano, said that he is looking for a museum or historical society to which he could donate the egg that would preserve it and tell Mary's story. Mary said that she is glad to have a new friend. “I’ve finally gotten my pen pal,” she said, “and it only took seventy-two years!”
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