Pictured is Deanna Houck and students from her fourth grade class at Candor Elementary 1986-1987, including Bridget Collins Moffett and Lisa Loparco Hills. Houck sent more than 90 letters to New York State Veteran homes and hospitals just prior to Christmas that were written by her students nearly 30 years ago. (Provided Photo)
While cleaning out a room at her home recently, retired Candor Elementary school teacher Deanna Houck came across a plastic bag full of interesting envelopes. It was sort of like finding a time capsule in a way, although it wasn’t the traditional time capsule that is usually buried in the ground, yet the envelopes she found contained holiday messages from nearly thirty years ago.
As it turned out, the envelopes were Christmas cards and letters written by her then fourth grade students for an English project during 1986 and 1987. A total of 90 cards were found, all written for a pen-friend project, with the intent of sending the cards to military personnel stationed in the Persian Gulf.
Houck is unsure why this particular batch of cards were never mailed, although at the time she was juggling a full time teaching position and was also a busy mother of two young children. Houck mentioned similar projects with other classes, even sending cards to veterans for Valentine’s Day.
Today, Houck keeps in contact with family, friends, and former students on social media and decided to share her recent find on Facebook. She began her post by stating, “Okay, confession time,” and went on to explain, “I don’t know if I ended up not having the money for postage, or if I had lost the address, or if I just plain forgot.”
Houck took the time to read all 90 cards and letters written by her former students and shared, “I could not bring myself to recycle them.”
Instead, she wrote her own letter, which explained the nearly 30-year delivery delay, made 90 copies, and then inserted the “apology letter” in new envelopes with the cards, including an additional 61 cards written by students this year. Just prior to Christmas, all the cards were mailed to multiple New York State veterans’ homes and hospitals, including locations in Oxford and Batavia, N.Y., and Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md.
Houck was pleased to receive feedback from several students who remembered participating in the card and letter writing project, as well as other former students and parents of students.
Richard Canfield, a student of Houck’s in 1985-1986, commented, “As a veteran that did four Middle East tours, thank you. Most have no idea what it means to get a letter like that while you’re over there, I am sure it made someone’s year.”
Sue Carucci grew up in Candor and shared that her two sons had Mrs. Houck for Kindergarten. Now living in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., Carucci shared that Houck went above and beyond as a teacher, even actively being a positive part of her support system when her son became ill.
Lisa Loparco Hills was one of Houck’s students who participated in the card project in 1986. “Mrs. Houck made sure we knew how important the letters were,” explained Hills.
Now living in Oklahoma, Hills added, “She explained how crucial our support is, and how happy it would make the soldiers, especially for those who could not be home at Christmas.”
Bernadette Ward also participated in the card project and said, “Mrs. Houck was a great teacher, and in the mind of a fourth grader, I couldn’t imagine not being with family for so long.”
Bridget Collins Moffett, a former student who lives in Candor, shared, “I think it is the sweetest thing that she would mail these letters thirty years late. The veterans who receive them all played a personal part in keeping our great nation what it is today.”
Regarding the delivery delay, Lisa Loparco Hills explained, “The letters were important then, but so much more now. I wasn’t angry when I found out they had not been sent. They are being received when they are needed the most.”
After 43 years of teaching, which includes teaching fourth and sixth grades, Kindergarten and reading, Houck retired in June 2014. Now teaching the children of former students, Houck keeps busy substituting at the same school. The daughter of a World War II veteran, Houck has participated with the American Legion Auxiliary and played bingo at the Oxford Veteran’s Home, and, in a unique way, has again shared her compassion and patriotism with her students.
Darleen Wyman, assistant to the director of activities at the New York State Veteran’s Home at Oxford, shared by phone, “We received such a positive response from these cards and letters.”
Wyman went on to explain that they routinely receive hundreds of letters, but the package from Houck was extra special. An activities volunteer read each card to a group of veterans attending their coffee club.
Wyman added, “The veterans really enjoyed them, they just lit up with happiness.”
