Mail redux: Better late than never
MORE LATE MAIL Cast your memory back to last week, when in this space we reported on Willa Presley Davis of Calion.
On Feb. 22, Davis received a birthday card and letter mailed by her mother in August 1975.
For almost 46 years, the card was adrift in the mail, but somehow finally made its way to Davis.
Shortly after we spoke with the 88-year-old Davis about that long wayward missive, we got word that it happened again.
“Things are getting weirder by the day,” she says.
On Feb. 25, she received a letter from her nephew, Andrew Davis, that he originally sent 32 years ago to her mother-in-law, Versa Davis. Andrew, who passed away in 1993, was writing to let Versa, his grandmother, know he would be visiting soon from Washington.
The letter was postmarked Jan. 26, 1988, in Washington, D.C. Another postmark was affixed on Feb. 23, 2021, in Little Rock, she says.
As was the case with the 1975 card, this piece of mail went to Davis’ box at the Calion post office and was picked up by her neighbor, Brenda Leopard.
“I was surprised,” Davis says. “Brenda said, ‘You’ve got another one!’”
Her box number is the same one her in-laws used, she says.
Davis read a bit of the letter to us:
Grandmother:
I hope you get better soon. I will see you on February 8th or 9th and will be there until Friday. I’m not sure if I will fly in or rent a car.
See you then, Andrew
Kanickewa Johnson is a spokeswoman for the U.S. Postal Service. She was aware of the first piece of mail Davis received, but the one from 1988 was news to her. She said she would need to see more details — things like postmarks and bar codes — before she could try to determine where they’ve been all these years.
“I would really need to look at the piece. There is more information that we would need to see. The more information we have, the more accurate we could be in providing information. Without seeing it, there is no way I can tell you what is going on. But for her to receive two pieces [mailed that long ago], I don’t know what’s going on with that. It seems odd.”
KING BISCUIT’S QUEEN
Munnie Jordan, the director of the mighty King Biscuit Blues Festival in Helena-West Helena, was the subject of a Feb. 28 feature at Forbes.com.
Headlined “King Biscuit Blues’ Secret Weapon: A 78-year-old Fundraising Phenom,” the story details Jordan’s work for the festival. It estimates that she has raised more than $2 million for the annual event, which attracts fans from all over the world to hear the blues played on Cherry Street and is an economic boon for the city’s downtown.
The profile, written by Elizabeth MacBride, also delves into the Helena native’s family and her fundraising skills. Read it at: arkansasonline.com/37papertrails/.