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.
“My father was convinced that one day his brother would come home. He put that (Christmas) box in the pantry because he wanted to hand it to his brother.”