Factory work can be a long and hard job. Even with all the advances of technology, the job can be repetitive.

So when, in 1951, a group of friends who worked at an egg-packing factory in Iowa wanted to have a little fun during an otherwise boring work day

So each woman grabbed some eggs and signed their name and hometowns on the shells. From there, where they went was anyone’s guess. For one woman, the answer would take more than 72 years to make its way to her.

Mary (Foss) Starn said she and her friends didn’t know where the eggs would end up and just stuck them in random cartons.

“Whoever gets this egg, please write me,” Starn had written on her eggs in pencil. She added, “Miss Mary Foss, Forest City, Iowa” along with the date, April 2, 1951.

Starn, who was 19 at the time, said that most of the eggs were going out east, but that she had hoped that her eggs might end up in New York City, where she might find a penpal.

I’d never been to New York City — still haven’t — so I signed four or five eggs and off they went on the truck to who knows where,” Starn said.

But as the years went by, she said she began to believe her eggs had been used and the shells discarded, leaving her without a pen pal.

The egg is dated April 2, 1951, with a request that anyone who finds it contact Mary Foss. Photo courtesy of John Amalfitano

Starn, now 92, went on to get married and have two daughters. She would tell them the stories of her time in the factory, and the fun things she and her friends did.

“We heard that egg story our entire lives,” her daughter, Laurie Bascom said. “Our mom always thought it would have been fun to get a response.”

And she finally did.

About 20 years ago, John Amalfitano of New Jersey, was hanging out with an elderly neighbor. Miller Richardson, who lived in Staten Island, N.Y., told Amalfitano about an egg he had found.

Richardson was a collector and, after finding the egg in a carton back in 1951, had wrapped up the find and put it in a box for safe-keeping.

“I went to Miller’s house one day to help him look for something, and we were going through boxes when I came across the egg,” he said.

John Amalfitano with his late neighbor Miller Richardson in New York. Photo Courtesy of Amalfitano

“When I asked him about it, he said he’d kept it because of the writing on it,” Amalfitano said. “He said he couldn’t understand why the egg didn’t putrefy over the years. It had dried out inside, but there was still some weight to it.”

Miller, who has since died, gave Amalfitano the egg. “You can keep it, because I know you’ll take good care of it,” he told Amalfitano.

So for 20 years, Amalfitano had kept the egg in a silver egg cup in a cabinet. He attempted to find Starn, but wasn’t able to locate her.

But then he decided to post about the egg on the ‘Weird and Wonderful Finds’ Facebook page. Alongside a few pictures, he wrote “Here’s something you don’t see every day. It’s an egg, from 1951. (Egg is still inside, though petrified!).” He added Starn’s name and address in the info.

In a bit of serendipity, a family member of Starn’s saw the message and reached out to Starn’s daughter, Jacque Ploeger.

Ploeger said she was shocked. “Mom, remember those eggs you signed? One of them has been found!”

Starn could hardly believe it.

It was pretty strange,” she said. “I thought somebody must have had a really good refrigerator.”

Amalfitano got Starn’s phone number from the family member and quickly called. After Ploeger answered, he explained about how he had the egg.

Then, he got a surprise. “In the background on the call, I heard this voice speak up,” he said. “She said, ‘This is Mary Foss.’”

“Finally,” Amalfitano said to her. “I can’t believe I’m hearing your voice.”

Finally, Amalfitano said, the egg’s journey from Iowa to New York had been completed. In the end, he said, it became more than just a signed egg.

“An egg might be a simple thing, but this has turned into such an uplifting journey, and it’s impressive to know that the person who signed the egg is alive and has been found,” he said.

For Starn, it was a happy conclusion to the long-ago bit of fun she had with friends.

“I’m happy to have a new friend,” she said. “I finally have my pen pal and it only took 72 years.”

For a look at this well-traveled egg, watch below.

Source: Washington Post