This man's life was turned upside when he found a hidden letter after his wife's death

This man's world turned upside down after he lost his wife of 50 years. He stumbled upon a letter she had hidden and it revealed a secret that changed his life.

This man's life was turned upside when he found a hidden letter after his wife's death
© Anne Nygård
This man's life was turned upside when he found a hidden letter after his wife's death

Losing your partner can be heartbreaking and it is even harder to move on with your life without them in it anymore, especially if you have been together for a long time. This is what 81-year-old Tony Trapani experienced when his wife of 50 years passed away. While clearing out her cabinet drawers he stumbled upon a letter that would change his life forever.

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Tony and his wife were trying to have children

Tony and his wife were married for around 50 years before she died. Although the couple seemed happy they yearned for children, however, no matter how much they tried his wife couldn’t get pregnant.They remained childless until she passed away.

After his wife’s death, Tony was cleaning out her filing cabinet when he found a letter that was dated back to 1959 by the stamp printed on it.

Read more: This woman’s ‘pregnancy’ turned out to be something much worse

Tony finds a secret letter

Tony was left flabbergasted after reading the letter which was from an old girlfriend called Shirley, informing him that he is the father of her son.

Tony was shocked to find the secret and rushed to find his son. The letter read:

I have a little boy, he is five years old now. What I'm trying to say Tony is he is your son. He was born November 13th, 1953.

Tony somehow managed to find him on Facebook and got to know that his son’s name was Samuel Childress. Samuel, on the other hand, thought that his father had no intentions of meeting him when he was younger and continued to live his life until Tony reached out to him years later. Tony was ecstatic to reconnect with his son but was still confused as to why his wife hid such a life-changing secret from him.

According to Fox17, Tony said:

Why my wife didn't tell me, I don't know. She wanted children. She couldn't have any. She tried and tried.

The story, however, does not end there. It was revealed in 2015 that the father and son then got a paternity test done to be absolutely sure that they were related. Unfortunately for them, it turned out that they were not biologically related. The bad news did not seem to hamper their new-found relationship. As reported in a follow-up article by Fox17, Childress still believes that Trapani is his real dad. He said:

I call him everyday, and talking to him he says the same thing about you know, the result. He said it doesn't matter what that says, I know you are my son.

Read more:

Woman in shock after discovering her late husband's secret

Woman discovers that her husband is not the father of their child, yet she has never cheated on him

Sources used:

Fox17: Elderly man finds son after discovering letter hidden by deceased wife for decades

Fox17: Paternity test negative, family reacts to results following ‘family union’

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