A Calgary woman’s walk to her mailbox resulted in a wave of nostalgia, as a long lost letter sent her on a brief visit back to the 1960’s.

Anne Tingle received the surprise of her life last week when she collected her mail. Among the stack of bills was an unusual packet wrapped in plastic.

“Between the pieces of cardboard was an ancient looking little envelope,” said Anne. “It was kind of battered and yellowed but the thing that stood out was it had a six cent stamp on it.”

“The queen was much younger then.”

The letter, a thank you note, was mailed on July 28 1969 by Esther Stringam, Anne’s little sister. Esther was nine years old at the time and lived in Lethbridge. The little girl had the correct street name but the wrong house number for Anne and the letter sat in limbo for 45 years.

“Although I don’t remember the mechanics of writing it, I do remember always being encouraged to write thank you notes,” said Esther via Skype from her home in Maryland.

Canada Post calls the appearance of the long lost letter ‘a beautiful mystery’. Officials with Canada Post have no idea where the letter has been for the last four and a half decades or how the letter ended up being delivered to Anne.

With files from CTV's Bill Marks