A love letter to a US college student from the girlfriend who was to become his wife is finally on its way to him - 53 years after it was written in 1958.

The letter surfaced in a Pennsylvanian university mailroom earlier this month.

It was addressed to Clark C Moore, who has since changed his name to Muhammad Siddeeq, making it hard to trace him.

But a friend saw a TV report about it and contacted the sorting office. Mr Siddeeq, 74, says he is still eager to read it, despite now being divorced.

'Shocked'

The letter mysteriously arrived at the California University of Pennsylvania, in the north-eastern state of Pennsylvania, 10 days ago.

He said if he didn't get that package within the next 53 years, he would call to complain Christine Kindl, Cal U spokesperson

Written to Mr Moore, the two-page letter was postmarked 20 February 1958 and signed "love forever Vonnie".

Mr Siddeeq, a retired teacher who is now living in the mid-western city of Indianapolis, said he was shocked when he was contacted by the university.

"We have a system here in America where if something is for you and if they find it, it gets to you, that's beautiful," he told US TV station WTAE.

He and his girlfriend wrote to each other when he was studying science, he said.

They did eventually marry and have four children.

Romance was different then - with no computers, letter writing was the only way to stay in touch and remains more romantic than emails, he said.

He admitted to having mixed emotions about the letter as he and Vonnie are now divorced.

But he told Washington's Observer-Reporter paper that he was keen to read it as it was "a testament of the sincerity, interest and innocence of that time".

University officials said the letter was now on its way to him along with a T-shirt from the university.

"He said if he didn't get that package within the next 53 years, he would call to complain," university spokeswoman Christine Kindl told Reuters news agency.