.jpg)
His family held onto his Christmas present for years, waiting for him to return from WWII. The wait is finally over
The wooden box – about a foot long and maybe six inches deep – remained on a pantry shelf in a Portland Heights home in the Southwest hills for 36 years.
No one opened it.
No one moved it.
No one touched it.
The box held the family’s hope and optimism for a long-awaited reunion -- until that hope and optimism finally were extinguished for good. Then, when it was time to accept the truth about that grim Wednesday in 1944, it held very different qualities. Tears and pain. That’s when the box was moved from the home’s living quarters and placed on the pantry shelf.
All of that, wrapped up in a simple wooden box, tucked away in an ordinary Portland home.