TAMPA, Fla. — A Seminole Heights couple has a Christmas mystery they hope the community can come together to solve.
Homeowner Jeremy Beauchamp shared the sweet story behind an unsigned Christmas card with ABC Action News and the couple's journey to find the woman who wrote it.
“I opened it and my first thought was — this is so strange to get a letter from someone this in-depth, you know, and it did not have a name on it. So I started reading it and almost got teary-eyed because it was very touching," Beauchamp said.
The letter read:
"Some of the best years of my life were spent in this house. I moved there when I was eight years old! I am now eighty-five! Not a Christmas goes by that I don't go back in my memory of those war years, our gatherings, laughter, and tears too, but all in all they were good memories. There are a few of us left, and we talk about those days. Please forgive an old lady at Christmas with her heart still at 9th Street. Enjoy your home - Merry Christmas! 'I'll be home for Christmas - if only in my dreams.'"
“Those types of memories -- is what we want to make in our house," Beauchamp said.
Beauchamp and his husband Dale have called their 1925 bungalow house on 9th St. home for more than two years now.
"There’s been almost 100 Christmases in this house. That’s a lot of memories," Beauchamp said.
The couple wants to find the woman behind the memories she shared.
"We've done marriage records, we did the census," Beauchamp told ABC Action News. "I mean you name it, we started going through it."
“Then we found that there was at one timeduring the census a 9-year-old girl that lived here at the same time period that this person was talking about," Beauchamp said.
The couple sent a card back to the address they think may, just may, be the woman who mailed them the card.
In a Facebook post, they wrote, "If you know anybody who knew the Perez family in SESH (Southeast Seminole Heights) during the 40s, please let me know."
ABC Action News asked Beachamp what he'd like to say to the woman.
"Well eventually, we'd like to get you over here," Beauchamp said with a chuckle. “Christmas next year would be nice. You know, maybe just let her over and have her see it, because we kind of go all out inside."
Beachamp said he wants to share this story as a reminder to find happiness.
"Even though 2020 has been so tough, I mean there is a memory that’s going to spark some time of joy in your life," Beauchamp said. "You have to look past what’s right in front of your face, which is this pandemic, and move on to thinking about something a little bit happier. And this story brought some happiness to our little family.”
