"Really Long Time No See"... 20s Doodled Egg Meets American Grandmother After 72 Years

Working on a Farm, Leaving Identity Graffiti on Eggs
Egg Buyer Keeps 'Special Eggs' for Decades

A 92-year-old grandmother in the United States has become a sensation after getting back an egg she doodled on as a prank in her twenties, 72 years later.

On the 25th (local time), according to local media KCCI-TV and others, Mary Force Stan (92), who lives in Mason City, Iowa, worked at an egg farm in Forest City, Iowa, when she was twenty years old in 1951.

At that time, for fun, she wrote on an egg, "If anyone gets this egg, please send me a letter." Along with this, Grandma Stan revealed her identity as "Miss Mary Force of Forest City, Iowa," and even wrote the date "April 2, 1951."

Egg that found the author of graffiti after 72 years
[Image source=Photo by John Amalfitano, Facebook page capture]

The dozen-packaged eggs were transported to a grocery store in New York City, about 1700 km away from Iowa. A man who bought a pack of eggs at this grocery store saw the special message written on one egg and decided not to eat it but to keep it. After that, about 50 years passed.

More than 20 years ago, the man who had kept the egg handed this historic egg to his neighbor John Amalfitano, who came to help clean his house. Curious, Amalfitano tried to find Mary Force Stan, who had doodled on the egg, but it was not easy after such a long time had passed. Then, Amalfitano learned about a social networking service (SNS) group that shares unique secondhand items and posted a photo of the egg on the group's Facebook page on the 17th.

In the introduction he posted with the photo, Amalfitano said, "This is an egg you don't see easily. It's from 1951, and even if fossilized, the yolk is still inside," and shared the doodle written on the egg. He said, "(The doodle) sounds like a cry from a young worker at an Iowa egg farm dreaming of becoming friends with someone living in a faraway city," adding, "I wonder if she is still alive. I tried to find her but had no success," expressing his hope to find the author of the doodle. Amalfitano also added, "I kept the egg in a pretty and safe storage container."

The image shows Mary Force Stan, a grandmother from Iowa, USA, reuniting with an egg she doodled on in her 20s after 72 years.
[Image source=KCCI-TV broadcast screen capture, Yonhap News]

The post received a warm response as soon as it was uploaded and spread rapidly, and shortly after, Amalfitano was able to contact Grandma Stan's daughter. Fortunately, Grandma Stan was alive and healthy despite her advanced age of 92.

Meeting with reporters, Grandma Stan said about the egg she doodled on, "I had completely forgotten about it." She then expressed surprise, saying, "How could that egg have existed until now?" and joked, "They must have had a good refrigerator."

Grandma Stan said that the 'reunion' with the egg sold to New York over 70 years ago was like winning the lottery. She said, "Having lived over 90 years and experienced all sorts of things, it's not very surprising, but this was a fresh joy." She also said, "My handwriting is better now than it was then," as she took a new egg out of the refrigerator and wrote her name on it to show.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.