Montville HS receives 46-year-old mystery letter

MONTVILLE – A mysterious letter nearly five decades old recently arrived at the high school, with its contents posing more questions than answers.

Montville Township High School received a “thick and unexpected” letter Tuesday, addressed to the high school at 123 Changebridge Road. That was only the address of the high school from 1968 to 1970, and is currently the location of the Robert R. Lazar Middle School.

The letter was sent in an official district envelope, used official district postage, and the return address listed was also the Changebridge Road location.

The post office had handwritten “71 cents” on the envelope next to a 6 cent postage stamp, and indicated 65 additional cents were due. So after doing some detective work, school officials determined the letter must have been sent at a time when postage was 6 cents, which was between 1968 and 1971.

Narrowing down the timeline further was the contents of the letter, a November 1969 copy of the Montville Twp. Monitor, the high school newspaper.

The front page headlines included “M.H.S. Likely To House Grades 7 to 11 Next Year,” “Trip to Germany Planned,” and “Council Votes To Change Dress Code, Board Must Act, Wearing of Slacks Approved.”

The main headline of the day’s sports page was “J.V. Record 4-4 As Mustangs Bow To Morris Hills,” featuring a picture of running back Larry Casha, now an attorney in the township.

Casha insists he is not the one behind the letter, but said the newspaper certainly unearthed some old memories.

“It’s pretty neat and very interesting,” Casha said. He said back then the high school did not have a football field, so the team had to practice in a cow pasture

“So there was incentive to stay on your feet,” he said.

Casha also noticed that his jersey number is slightly obscured in the photo and remembered the reason why. He said players only had a single jersey for practices, scrimmages, and games, so when his ripped, his mother patched it up herself.

“That’s why it looks like it says ‘4C’ and not ’40,’” Casha said.

Class of ’72 writers Mark Becan, Kathy Hogan and Debbie Eckert were joined on the front page by Class of ’73 writers Debbie Lang and Harry Herrmann. The paper also featured articles written by Class of ’72 alumni, Brian Laird, Lloyd Kitchim and Jim Cosentino.

“There is no indication inside or out as to where the envelope has been for the past 46 years,” district spokesperson Sue Marinello said. “The envelope was securely sealed, and no note was enclosed with the Monitor, leaving the district, or at least those who open the mail, to wonder why it was imperative, some 46 years ago, for a MTHS publication to be mailed to MTHS in an MTHS envelope.”

The Montville Post Office, which delivers the high school’s mail, could not shine any light on the mysterious letter. An employee said they had never heard of the letter, it was never mentioned at their location, and nobody recalled delivering it to the high school.

“It is likely that, unless someone can recall putting the Nov. 25, 1969 edition of the Montville Twp. Monitor in the mail sometime around 1970,” Marinello said, “The mystery may never be solved.”

Montville Township High School did pay the additional 65 cents owed on the letter.

Staff Writer Michael Izzo: 973-428-6636; mizzo@GannettNJ.com