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Jessica Means

Something strange was waiting for Jessica Means inside the mailbox she opened thousands of times over the 17 years she had lived at her house in Portland, Maine. Her July 14 stop at that mailbox started out as another unremarkable visit when she pulled out the mail carrier’s daily delivery and started flipping through it.

But there was something that shook her from the ordinary: a postcard of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Means, 46, flipped it over. It was addressed to a Mr. and Mrs. Rene A. Gagnon. At first, she figured the mail carrier had delivered it to the wrong house. But then she noticed the address was correct. Looking closer, she saw an original postmark dated March 15, 1969, and a far more recent one from seven days earlier out of Tallahassee.

Means was holding a piece of mail that had traveled at least 5,700 miles over more than 54 years to get to her house.

“It’s like this little gift from the universe,” she said.

And that was just the start of the mystery.

Means read the postcard’s message, written in faded ballpoint ink: 

“By the time you get this I will have long since been home, but it just seems proper to send this from the Tour Eiffel, where I am now. Don’t have chance to see much, but having fun.”

The card was signed with the name “Roy.”

Means contacted <a href="https://wgme.com/news/local/postcard-sent-1969-finally-arrives-portland-maine-paris-france-tallahassee-florida-tour-eiffel" target=_blank>WGME</a>, a local news station that ran a story about her decades-old mail, and she wrote a Facebook post about it. Internet sleuths got to work, quickly finding obituaries for Rene A. Gagnon and his wife, Rose, and replying to Means’s Facebook post with their findings.

Rene Gagnon was born in 1905 in Quebec, according to his 1988 obituary in the Evening Express. He immigrated to the United States as a young man, marrying Rose Koski in 1929. Thirteen years later, the couple moved to Portland. After a long illness, he died in 1988 at the age of 82. Rose lived for 14 more years, <a href="https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/63464978/rose-rachel-gagnon" target=_blank>dying in 2002</a>.

Both of their obituaries listed their surviving relatives, including one of their two daughters: Doris. According to those obituaries, Doris was married to a man named Roy Salzman. They also mention that the Salzmans had lived abroad for a considerable chunk of time — in Brussels.

With the help of the internet, Means had found the Gagnons’ connection to a Roy who’d lived in Europe.

Roy Salzman died in 2006 at 73 after a years-long battle with lung cancer, according to <a href="https://www.bchfh.com/memorials/roy-salzman/995061/obituary.php" target=_blank>his obituary</a>. Born in 1933, Salzman graduated salutatorian of his high school class, attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served in the Air Force. In 1959, he left the military and became a consultant. He and Doris traveled the world for his work, venturing to Brazil, Mexico and Belgium before moving back to the United States in 1988.

The postcard had a much more recent history, which was also partially revealed by its markings. Means noticed that a modern U.S. Postal Service “Forever” stamp had been placed over one that was presumably from 1969. A Tallahassee postmark dated July 12 covered the 1969 original out of Paris.

According to Rose Gagnon’s obituary, she and Rene wintered in Florida every year to visit their other daughter and son-in-law.

Means also noticed that someone had added to the list of recipients. Under “Mr. + Mrs Rene A. Gagnon,” which had been written in the ballpoint ink, just like Roy’s message, an anonymous writer had added “or current resident” in all caps.

Means said she thinks the postcard may have arrived at its destination in Portland back in 1969. Then, perhaps after Rene Gagnon’s death in 1988 or Rose’s in 2002, it was taken from the house, possibly by a relative, eventually finding its way to Florida. There, she theorized, someone rediscovered it and, for reasons unknown, decided to send it to its original destination, if not its original intended recipient.

“I don’t think it was ever lost. I think it was tucked away and refound, and someone decided to put a stamp on it and send it back to this address,” she said. “And I think that’s really cool.”

She paused for a couple seconds. “And curious.”

Means wants to know the rest of the story. She’s hoping the Tallahassee sender learns that the postcard made it to its destination and contacts her to fill in the gap between March 15, 1969, and July 12, 2023.

“I think there are other people who would like to close the loop on this little postcard,” she said.

In the meantime, she has put the postcard on her fridge in the house where it was meant to be.

Livingston Award, finalist, 2018

University of California, Berkeley, BA in English

Jonathan Edwards is a reporter on The Washington Post's Morning Mix team. Before joining The Post, he covered public safety for The Virginian-Pilot and Lincoln Journal Star.

Jonathan Edwards

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A postcard from Paris arrives in Maine — 54 years after it was sent

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