Wayward letters from 1930s find home

Published 8:48 pm Sunday, April 26, 2009

Evelyn Belknap was right under my nose.

Perhaps you recall my March 16 column about letters found in Everett, sent to Belknap in the 1930s.

“Found letters part sweet story, part mystery” the column headline read. At the time, I didn’t know who Belknap was, only that she had grown up in Chinook.

Susan Brandvolt Dawson of Everett, out walking her dogs, found the box of letters. From the yellowed papers, mailed with three cents postage, we learned a bit about Lucille C. Bristol, who lived at 26 Isham St. in Burlington, Vt., and Florence, who lived at 16 Freehold St. in Derby, England.

The teens wrote back and forth about movies, such as “Curly Top” with Shirley Temple, fashions and summer fun away from school.

It would be a shame if no one cared about this slice of history, Dawson said.

The morning the column ran, I discovered that dozens and dozens of readers cared about Evelyn Belknap. She had lived in Everett for decades and was a beloved member of First United Methodist Church.

Niece Jewell Colvin and her husband, Don, of Mukilteo, said Aunt Evelyn died in April at age 89. Her house was ransacked after her death. Perhaps the letters were stolen and discarded.

Belknap graduated from Ilwaco High School in 1936, Cascade College in 1943 and a nursing school in Wenatchee in 1953.

She spent her life in service, Colvin said. She worked at Everett General Hospital and various nursing homes. Belknap spent many years taking care of family at home including her mother, her Aunt Kate, and sisters Rachel Johnson and Ruth Belknap.

Evelyn Belknap was preceded in death by her sisters and her brother, Ernest “Deac.” She is survived by nieces Jewell and husband Don Colvin; Carol Roberts and her husband, Ron, of Chilliwack, B.C.; and Jill Armstrong and her husband, Don, of Indianola.

Sisters Ruth and Evelyn Belknap never married. Aunt Evelyn had a “fella,” Jewell Colvin said, but their views on religion didn’t mesh.

Colvin was certain about where the 1930-era letters came from.

“Aunt Evelyn had pen pals,” she said. “She may have never met them.”

I joined the Colvins at Dawson’s home in Everett. It was fun to watch the letters change hands. We learned that Evelyn Belknap left Chinook to go to Bible school. She was a postmistress at one time. For a while, she lived in Sultan, then came back to Everett.

When she could no longer care for her sister at home, Evelyn Belknap visited Ruth Belknap every day in a nursing home, Colvin said.

The Colvins are still sorting through their aunt’s things.

“Evelyn was a saver,” Colvin said. “She saved everything.”

Linda Doyle, office manager with First United Methodist Church, said Belknap was a member of a ladies’ circle.

“She loved to do crossword puzzles,” Doyle said. “And I’m told she loved to go out to eat.”

The finder of the letters, Susan Dawson, said she was pleased to reunite mementoes with the rightful owners. When she found the envelopes tossed in a parking lot, they touched her heart.

Mystery solved, thanks to so many folks who cared about Evelyn Belknap.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com.