Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com
Published - Sunday, December 24, 2006
Christmas card takes long detour for across town delivery
 Stephan Votruba, of Winona, contemplates the reality of a distant relative receiving a Christmas card intended for himself. After receiving the card by mistake, Frederick Novotny, of St. James, NY, sent the card and a new card to Votruba with a message saying they might be related. (Photo by Andrew Link of the Winona Daily News) |
Somewhere between West Ninth Street and East Seventh Street, Stephen Votruba’s Christmas card from his aunt took a wrong turn and ended up 968 miles off course — where the recipient recognized the name.
Christmas cards never mean much to Votruba. At least not until he collected his mail Friday.
Votruba immediately noticed a white card from St. James, N.Y. The sender’s name, F. Novotny, didn’t mean anything to him.
“I tried to figure out who might send a card from New York, but I don’t know anybody from New York,” Votruba said.
Inside the envelope were a card from a stranger and the unopened Christmas card from Votruba’s aunt, Mona Stolpa, from across town.
The mysterious card showed the Montauk Point Lighthouse in Long Island. It read:
“I don’t know how this card reached Long Island, N.Y. The only common thing is your address, 611 E. Seventh St., and mine, 611 Elton Ct. S. I didn’t want to chance returning it to the P.O. since they didn’t get it right the first time. Curiously, we may be related distantly. My mother’s aunt Pauline was married to a Frank Votruba. We spent many a happy time with the Votruba family. I am now
73 years of age and all of the relatives are gone now. This chance encounter with a Votruba family member brings back many a happy memory.”
Votruba, 34, could hardly believe it. “Things like this just don’t happen,” he said. “I now believe in Christmas miracles.”
He showed the card to his co-workers at Sauer Memorial Home, and called his mother and his aunt.
Stolpa said she wondered what happened because she had used the proper postage and his correct address.
Winona Postmaster Bill Bliven was out of the office Saturday and wouldn’t comment until he saw the envelope.
Frederick Novotny, reached by phone Saturday, recalled celebrating Christmas as a child with Frank Votruba and his family.
“It was a name that I knew,” he said. “We always used to get together because the families were that way.”
But the Votrubas he knew have all died. His only two remaining relatives are in North Carolina and Georgia, he said, and no one gets together anymore.
“Everybody’s spread out,” he said.
Novotny said he doubts that Votruba is actually a relative. He just wanted him to get his Christmas card — and thought he might get a kick out of getting a card from a stranger on Long Island.
Related or not, Novotny recognized Votruba as another Czech name and affixed to his card two “Champion of Liberty” stamps featuring T.G. Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.
Votruba recognized that a family connection was unlikely.
“I heard I have a great uncle or cousin that lived in New York, and I did have an Uncle Frank, but it’s not the same one,” he said. “For all I know, he could be a distant relative from Ellis Island.”
Votruba is content not to know, because “the mystery is cooler than reality.”
He plans to write Novotny back to thank him for sending his aunt’s card back but isn’t sure what else he’ll say.
“It almost seems like it was meant to go to him,” he said. “Unintentionally, I think I made this guy’s Christmas.”
City Editor Chris Hubbuch contributed to this story.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 Winona Daily News and other attributed sources.