There's hardly ever a day in our life that passes by without reminiscing the memories of the past. Each one of us has a bundle of memories that we take along, no matter where we are and how old we are.
And one of the most beautiful phase of our lives, that has given us countless memories is the school days. But have you ever imagined a memory changing your life forever? The moment has already been lived, and it has already passed by, yet it is going to change two lives, all the way from 1955 to 2019.
In January of 2019, construction labors had been hired to dismantle the Jeffersonville High School structure, which had been standing still since 1913 on the corner of Meigs and Court Avenues. And what the labor found while working in the school building, was going to change two lives forever.
The Greater Clark County Schools district in Indiana runs around 20 educational institutions and has 10,500 pupils as part of the establishments. Jeffersonville High School had also been a part of the Greater Clark County Schools.
The school has been one of the eldest schools of the district and used to be proud of its cutting-edge and ways and approaches to teaching. But now the school was going to be shut down and a new establishment was to be formed.
Since 1913, the Jeffersonville school had been a prominent school in the district and had undergone a lot of changes ever since. For instance, in the 1940s, African-American students' integration happened. But even among so many changes, there was one thing that was still there and never went missing.
The buildings of Jeffersonville school had been through a lot. A lot of memories must have been made by numerous students of the school, but now it was time for new premises to be built in its place. Although the school campus had originally shut its doors in 1971, students were taught in the East End district until recently.
When the dismantling of the Jeffersonville High school structure began, a lot of people who had been associated with the school felt like the building professionals were taking away a part of the history of the local district. That is how significant the school was. And its significance was soon going to increase with the discovery of a treasure.
While starting the task of breaking down the school buildings, the workers were unaware of what they were going to discover from the premises. Among the ruins of the building, they would find something vintage, that would change lives.
On one morning of January 2019, when the workers were halfway done breaking down the school building, they were to take down the science room of the school. The day had been like any other ordinary day for them, until...
The first task in order to start dismantling the room was to take out the furniture that filled the room. And while doing that, one of the workers noticed that something was sparkling in a corner. And that is when he reached it.
As soon as the worker saw the unusual sparkling object, he ran towards it. But he was unaware at the time that what he had found would be the start of an incredible story. It was a small black purse, and what was inside it, was going to change everything.
All the workers gathered together when they saw that a purse had been found. It could have had anything in it. As much as they wanted to open it and see what was inside it, they also had doubts if that would be the right thing to do or not.
After their curiosity won, the workers decided to open the purse and look at what was inside it. The purse had several everyday items that made clear that the purse belonged to a woman who had been a part of the school once.
The one thing that even the workers were confused about when they saw the purse, was a letter inside it. The paper that the letter was written on made it seem like the letter was written years ago. Did the workers open the letter or not?
All the ingredients that were present in the purse made a lot of things clear. The contents of the purse gave an idea about how the woman was, her liking, disliking, and the letter were going to make some very huge revelations.
There was a lipstick inside the purse, a Kleenex with coral-colored smudges on it, a compact, a hairpin, and some juicy fruit gum wrappers. The question was, what was a letter doing in between all these cosmetics?
One thing that gave a hint about the identity of the woman to whom the purse might belong was a bus schedule and fixture listing, and it was a very old one. The bus schedule was of the Jeffersonville High School itself, and it was for the 1953-54 basketball team of the school.
Murmurs started to do the rounds in the half-dismantled science room that was occupied by the workers. They were all stunned to see that the purse they had found was more than 50 years old. How was it still there?
The workers knew that it was now time for them to hand over the purse and all its belongings to the authority of the school so that it could reach its rightful owner. And that started the enigmatic story of the purse and its owner.
After the school authorities got the purse, they knew they would have to read the letter to find out as to whom did the purse belong. The letter was addressed to a girl named Marty, from a boy named Torchy. And now, lives were going to change.
The letter was not just any normal letter. It was actually a lovelorn letter that was written in the hopes of an answer to asking Marty to be Torchy's partner for the prom night. And after reading this letter, the school administration decided upon something.
After reading the letter, you would know that Torchy was a true gentleman and Marty on the other hand, was actually liked by a lot of boys in her time. It felt like a true 1950's love story..but things are not always as they seem to be.
The letter read, “I’ve heard that Paul has asked you to go to the prom with him. If he hasn’t, I would like very much to take you. Love, Torchy. P.S. If you have already consented to go with Paul, please forget that I have asked. If he has asked, but you haven’t consented yet, please consider my invitation.”
The administration came to know that Marty's full name was actually Martha Ina Ingham. The purse had her social security card and her identification as well. All of this revealed that Marty had been a senior in Jeffersonville High School in 1955, which also meant that if she was still alive, she would be an octogenarian by now.
The purse had some paper cut-outs that made it clear that Marty must have lost the purse in 1954 in the science lab. And the fact that it had been there for more than six decades now, made it clear that she must have forgotten about it only.
The authority at the Greater Clark County Schools decided to try and reunite the purse with its rightful owner. They took the matter to facebook, in the hopes to find Marty if she was still alive. And turns of events unfolded.
In February of 2019, the school administration posted a photograph of the purse on the school's facebook page and wrote down an appeal to the readers of their post to help them track down the rightful owner of the purse.
The Facebook post read, "Lost and Found Alert: Martha Ina Ingham’s handbag from 1954 has been found in the Franklin Square demolition. We would love to return it to her or her family! Please contact Erin Bojorquez, Public Information Officer."
Just within a few days, the Facebook post had attracted hundreds of comments and thousands of likes. And the best part was, a relative of Marty saw the post and shared it with Marty's son. A huge turn of events was to follow now.
Marty's son made her mom aware of the amazing discovery. An update, which was posted on February 9 by Greater Clark County school, read, “Martha Ina Ingham has been found! Thank you to everyone who shared our original post. We will provide an update soon!” And this update brought tears in a lot of eyes!
Now that Marty had been found, the biggest question that remained was that who did she finally go to the prom with? Was it Paul, the boy mentioned in the letter, or was it Torchy, the gentleman who had written the letter with so much hope?
The public information officer for Greater Clark County School, Erin Bojorquez said, "Marty was found thanks to the power of social media," she explained. "A family member came across our post and then shared it with [Marty’s] youngest son. I’m thrilled I was able to connect with Marty’s family."
Bojorquez too was excited to find out who did Marty finally choose to go on the prom with. She told the News and Tribune, "I hope this little piece of history brings back fond memories of [Marty’s] year at Jeffersonville High School… I also hope to answer the community’s burning question about who took Marty to prom."
A few years after her graduation, Marty got married. She has married twice in her life and now goes by the surname Everett. Marty is not just a mother of four, but also a grandmother of seven children, and a great-grandmother of four.
Marty is in her 80's now and is settled in Maryland. But she loves the warmth of Florida and therefore migrates there in winters of Maryland. And as was expected, Marty had no recollection of a purse that she had lost in her high-school days.
When Marty got to know about the purse she said, "Honestly, I didn’t remember losing [the purse]. I think it was just more of a huge surprise that something from that long ago would suddenly come back into my life. It brought back memories I hadn’t thought about in a long time."
Marty told, "I remember the biggest thing was basketball. We had a really good basketball team and a lot of celebrations. It was just a happy time. It felt like a small-town, close-knit lifestyle. We knew everybody [and] had a lot of friends. It was a good feeling."
Marty finally revealed in an interview with News and Tribune who her prom date was back in high-school. It was surprising to know that it was neither Torchy nor Paul. It was a third boy named Carter Williams that Marty had gone to prom with.
Yes, there was a second letter in Marty's purse, and it was from none other than Carter Williams. It read, "Dear Marty, Bobbie and I aren’t going back together. I’m just continuing to walk her to classes. She asked me if I would, and I told her that I would. But I am just trying to be friends with everybody, and I decided to start on the girls that I have done wrong."
Williams was surprisingly not just Marty's prom date but also her first boyfriend. His letter continued, "Is there anything wrong with that? I’m just going to date everybody and be friends with everybody. I figure that’s the least I can do. When I leave here, I want to be everybody’s pal! Don’t you think I have the right look at things? I think Paul is an alright guy, but you’ll never catch him; he runs too fast," he wrote.
The news of Marty finding her purse and the letters had reached a lot of people, and Carter Williams was one of them. And so he decided to reach out to Marty, after so many years. “We had a great time talking on the phone and helping each other remember back then,” Marty revealed to the News and Tribune.