70-year mystery continues in Little Chute

There’s a Mother’s Day mystery afoot at St. John Nepomucene Church. For the past 69 years, flowers have shown up at the statue of the Blessed Virgin courtesy of an anonymous donor. Though parishioners enjoy the sight of the lovely flowers, no one has figured out who the donor is.

Karen Mulry, a parishioner who is retired from her family’s florist business, said every year an envelope with a one-sentence letter and a check arrives at Reynebeau Floral in Little Chute on the Thursday or Friday before Mother’s Day. “It’s always written the same and says, ‘Dear Florist, would you please put the annual purple orchid by the Blessed Virgin again this year? Thank you very much.’ The first check was for $2 and each year, it increased a little,” Mulry said.
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“I have no idea who is behind this,” she said. “The handwriting has never changed; the format has never changed. I had a person in mind at one point. She was a neighbor and devoted to the Blessed Virgin. But she passed away and the letters kept coming. Then her son passed away, too, and the letters kept coming.”

There was one point about 30 years ago when the letter hadn’t arrived by Friday, she recalled. “My mother said, ‘It’s not going to come.’ But on Saturday, we got a special delivery letter with the request and a check.”

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