Where a Southern Indiana High School once stood is now a construction site. But just last month, as excavation crews got to work, the most incredible of discoveries was made: a purse lost in the mid 1950s.Inside was a compact, a tube of lipstick and a series of letters, tucked neatly into a wallet.An employee with Greater Clark County Schools used the contents from those letters and social media to track down the owner. The pretty brunette teenager, Marty Ingham, now Marty Everett, 81, was found living in Maryland.Everett received the purse through the mail last week and said she found such joy going through the contents-- especially the letters.Two were from young men asking her to Jeffersonville High School's 1954 prom. She was shocked to not only find the letters intact, but to read them 65 years later."If you think about it, these boys wrote letters and you would never see that today. They would text you, you know, so that's such a big difference," she said.Everett, who spoke with WLKY by phone, does not remember losing the purse but said it was wonderful to help, "bring back memories, it was just like a time capsule."Everett said she remembers her time at Jeffersonville High School fondly and was grateful for the lengths others went to to return the purse.

Where a Southern Indiana High School once stood is now a construction site. But just last month, as excavation crews got to work, the most incredible of discoveries was made: a purse lost in the mid 1950s.

Inside was a compact, a tube of lipstick and a series of letters, tucked neatly into a wallet.


An employee with Greater Clark County Schools used the contents from those letters and social media to track down the owner. The pretty brunette teenager, Marty Ingham, now Marty Everett, 81, was found living in Maryland.

Everett received the purse through the mail last week and said she found such joy going through the contents-- especially the letters.

Two were from young men asking her to Jeffersonville High School's 1954 prom. She was shocked to not only find the letters intact, but to read them 65 years later.

"If you think about it, these boys wrote letters and you would never see that today. They would text you, you know, so that's such a big difference," she said.

Everett, who spoke with WLKY by phone, does not remember losing the purse but said it was wonderful to help, "bring back memories, it was just like a time capsule."

Everett said she remembers her time at Jeffersonville High School fondly and was grateful for the lengths others went to to return the purse.