Pen Pals and Postcards: Uncovering a Centenarian's Life Story

Originally published on the Institute for Human Science & Culture Blog

When you attend an estate sale, you often assume that the owner of the house has passed away; however, that is not always the case. In May 2022 I attended an estate sale in the Highland Square neighborhood of Akron. A manila envelope stuffed full of postcards with a handwritten note on it caught my attention at the sale.

I had no need for these postcards, but I was interested to learn more about Margaret Crowther, “Mom’s Pen Pal,” and Sarah Jane (Witt) Kelley, the recipient of the postcards, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity of this story for only a dollar. Little did I know that this manila envelope full of postcards would turn into an exciting project and that I would meet the recipient of the postcards!

Learning more about Margaret and Sarah was meant to be a summer project, but it turned into a project for my Foundations of Museums & Archives I class this past fall semester. I chose this collection of postcards to research for our “The Personal Is Historical” paper which requires students to choose an item, typically a family heirloom, and explain their personal connection to the item, but also tell the object’s history using primary and secondary sources. I figured this project was the perfect opportunity for me to dedicate time to delve into these postcards.

The collection consists of 102 postcards and one letter. The earliest postcard dates to 1939 and the most recent postcard is from 1987. While a majority are addressed to Sarah, there are a handful of postcards that are blank, and one is an unsent postcard addressed to Margaret. The postcards were sent to Sarah at three different Akron addresses.

A highlight from the collection includes a postcard written by Margaret to celebrate V-J Day, which celebrates the end of WWII, and is postmarked August 17, 1945. The note reads:

Dearest Sarah Jane,

The news is so wonderful I couldn’t pass by this day without dropping a line as it is impossible for us to celebrate together. We have been granted yet another 2 days holiday but how I shall spend them remains to be seen. All my love for a brighter and happier era…

I was able to find basic biographical information on Sarah using U.S. federal census records, Akron city directories, and Summit County marriage records. I also discovered an article about her in the summer 2021 St. Sebastian alumni newsletter. This source was key to me learning that Sarah was still living. Kathy Zehenni Holaday, Director of Development for St. Sebastian Parish Foundation, interviewed Sarah for the article. Fortunately, Kathy was able to connect me with Sarah and her family. In October, I met with Sarah and one of her daughters, Barb. I spent two hours with them, asking questions only Sarah would be able to answer: Who was Margaret Crowther? How did she become pen pals with Margaret? And what else did I not know about Sarah’s life?

Sarah Jane Witt was born in Akron in 1922. Her parents had moved to Akron from Cincinnati so that her father could take a job as assistant traffic manager for the Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad. Sarah noted that most children’s parents worked for the rubber companies, but the railroads were important for Akron because the rubber companies needed their goods to be transported.

I was curious how Sarah and Margaret became pen pals. Sarah explained that when she was about in the fifth grade, a friend helped her find a pen pal through a student newspaper. Sarah noted that at the time in the early 1930s, writing to a pen pal was something to do as TVs were not common and radios were becoming increasingly popular.

Sarah attended St. Sebastian School and graduated from eighth grade in 1937. She remembers attending first grade at the old Knights of Columbus building on West Market Street before the school officially opened in November 1929. Sarah walked to school and lived nearby to her future husband, John Kelley, who graduated from St. Sebastian in 1936. Sarah later went on to graduate high school from Buchtel High School in 1941.

Sarah then earned her B.S. in Secretarial Science from The University of Akron. After graduating, she worked at the university under Mary Keating, the Advisor of Women. Sarah later worked as an executive secretary for the Akron, Canton and Youngstown Railroad, and then she became a stay-at-home mom to her eight children.

In 1948, Sarah married her husband, John. They lived in West Akron before their family finally moved to the Highland Square neighborhood in 1964. This house is where the estate sale was held.  

As for Margaret, Sarah shared with me that she was from Brighouse, England (return addresses on two of the postcards confirm this as well) and that she was a teacher. She never married or had children, but had traveled extensively, and even taught in Cyprus and the U.S. Margaret visited Sarah and her family twice in Akron. Unfortunately, Sarah was never able to visit Margaret across the pond. Margaret passed away about 30 years ago from a brain tumor.

Sarah was 99 at the time of our meeting; she turned 100 in December! Despite her age, her mind is sharp and she was able to answer my questions with great detail. I learned from reading some of the postcards that the two women also exchanged letters, which I assume went into greater detail about their lives. Sarah said that while she had saved and given many items to her family when she moved, these letters were unfortunately thrown away.

In my “The Personal Is Historical” paper, I noted that history displayed through the lives of everyday people fascinates me the most. Sarah has lived a relatively normal life, but hearing her talk about Akron changing over the years and how her life story fits into that narrative was truly something special.

“Akron was a smaller place,” Sarah recalls when I asked her how Akron has changed in the last 100 years.

She remembers when West Akron was relatively rural, mostly made up of fields and few houses, which is hard to imagine today. She also remembers the street cars that went up and down Market Street and the bustling downtown.

You won’t often find these stories of everyday people depicted in history books or historical dramas, but they show up in unexpected places like a manila envelope full of postcards at an estate sale, and they are waiting to be told.