Sandy turns up 70-year-old love letters

ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS, N.J. (CNN/KYW) - Letters washed ashore by Hurricane Sandy spark an unusual search for love.

Kathleen Mullen was lucky the only thing she lost during hurricane sandy was power, but what she found was remarkable.

During a stroll along the Henry Hudson Trail in the Atlantic Highlands, N.J., the day after, she stumbled across a stack of letters.

"They were obviously tied with a pink ribbon, so I automatically knew they were love letters," said Mullen.

She took them home, dried them in front of the fireplace, and under the light of the fire, began to read.

"There isn't much more to tell you tonight, dear. I love you very much. Yours always, Dotty," read Mullen.

The letters were written between 1942 and 1947 by Dorothy Fallon of Rumson, N.J., to her betrothed, Lynn Farnham, of Vermont.

And Mullen wanted to get the letters back to them, taking her search to the Internet, posting on Facebook, Craigslist, and a website called findagrave.com. And that's where Dorothy and Lynn's niece found her.

"It's magical. This can't be real," said Shelley Farnham-Hilber, who lives in Virginia.

Farnham-Hilber said Lynn served in World War II and was at Pearl Harbor. 

The couple married and had two children, a son and a daughter. Lynn and the couple's son are now dead, though. Dorothy lives in a nursing home, and the family has lost touch with the couple's daughter.

"It's like a genealogical gold mine," said Farnham-Hilber. "It's like there's that moment that you think is lost forever, and here is something. It's a gift."

"It kind of sends the message that love conquers all, in such devastation -- something so delicate just washes ashore," said Mullen.

Indeed, though Sandy washed away so much -- homes, memories, lives -- she couldn't wash away nearly 70-year-old ink. She couldn't wash away true love.

It's not clear where the letters were stored or who had them before the storm.