Time capsule: 1950s purse found in Texas is returned to family
Texas teen's purse brings memories and joy to loved ones nearly 70 years later.
One American family has been reunited with a decades-old memento of a loved one’s past.
An old school building in League City, Texas, underwent renovations in the summer of 2021 to transform it into a community center. The construction process revealed a treasure hidden under some old floorboards: a purse owned by a young girl in the late 1950s.
The purse is "a window into the past," Sydney Hunt, senior communications specialist for the Clear Creek Independent School District (ISD), told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.
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The small purse contained sepia-toned pictures, a notebook and some pencils, a nail file kit and two handkerchiefs.
The purse also contained a calendar with the date "April 1959," said Hunt.
Beverly Williams is shown as a teen on the left, with some contents of her 1950s purse shown on right. (Deborah Hicks)
The purse was the "only thing worth saving" in a "pile of mess in the floorboards," Armando Rodriguez, a contractor on the League City School project — and the one who made the discovery — said in a video created by the school district.
"Picture it as today's Facebook," Richard Lewis, vice president of the League City Historical Society, said of the purse in the same video.
"She wrote about her love life, she wrote [about] who she broke up with."
Inside the purse was a wallet with notes and photos that read almost as a "diary," said Lewis.
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"You're putting everything down [in notes]. She wrote about her love life, she wrote [about] who she broke up with," he said.
Once the purse was discovered, the hunt was on to find its owner.
The school district posted a note on Facebook as it tried to locate the owner — and the district noted that local genealogists were on the case, too.
Patience ultimately brought success.
The school district confirmed that the purse's owner was recently identified in a statement shared with Fox News Digital.
"In partnership with the League City Historical Society and the City of League City, Clear Creek ISD has now confirmed the owner of the missing purse to be Andrea Beverly Williams," the district said.
The purse owned by Beverly Williams as a young teenager in Texas contained some colorful handkerchiefs and a red wallet, too. (Clear Creek Independent School District)
"The district and the Historical Society received many tips from local genealogists once local news published the story, which led to the confirmation," the school district added.
Noting that Williams was going by her middle name — which is why she was not "popping up on any school or city records" — the statement confirmed that Williams was born in October 1945.
"The purse was believed to be lost in April 1959, making her 13 at the time," the district added.
"She had nine children and died in September 2016."
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Williams was married to William Augusta Paul on Aug. 12, 1963.
The couple divorced in Texas on April 15, 1986, according to Texas online marriage and divorce records on Ancestry.com, as reported by Fox13 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Beverly Williams is shown in two different photos from her teen years. (Deborah Hicks)
"Three daughters were in attendance" to see the purse on Oct. 12, 2022, Hunt shared with Fox News Digital.
"It was so special watching them go through the purse and reminisce about their mother," said Hunt.
One of Williams' daughters, Deborah Hicks — the sixth of Williams' nine children — was thrilled at the discovery of her mother's girlhood purse.
It has been "especially nice," said Deborah Hicks, that people who knew her mother "during that time" in her life have "reached out to us with additional pictures and stories."
"It was really amazing that my husband, a League City councilman, voted to renovate the school instead of tearing it down — not knowing, of course, that he would be saving a part of League City history and a time capsule of my mom (his own mother-in-law)," Hicks, who lives in League City, told Fox News Digital by email.
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Hicks said it has been "especially nice" that people who knew her mother "during that time" in her life have "reached out to us with additional pictures and stories."
Some members of Beverly Williams' family, from left to right: Daughter Deborah Hicks, husband Justin Hicks and their daughters; daughter Rhonda Dohr and husband Tim; and daughter Andrea Sanchez and husband Mark. (Deborah Hicks)
"It has been remarkable for my sisters and [me] to see some of the pictures that she kept, her small diary and personal items," she said.
Hicks' sister Rhonda Dohr lives in League City as well, while sister Andrea Sanchez lives close by in Pearland, Texas. Other siblings are in Texas but farther away from League City, while some are in California, Hicks said.
"We're really getting the chance to know her as a young girl, before she met our dad and settled into being ‘Mom,’" she added.
Members of Williams' family as well as friends and extended family examine the purse from the 1950s and its contents. (Deborah Hicks)
"For the rest of her life, this is by far the smallest purse she ever carried," Hicks also kidded, as shown in a video taken by the school district of the family viewing the purse.
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The family is allowing the League City Historical Society to take possession of the purse for the next few months, Hicks said.
During the next League City council meeting — on Oct. 25 at 6 p.m. — the mayor of League City is planning to declare October 5th as "Beverly Williams Day," on what would have been Williams’ 77th birthday, Hicks also said.
"We will all be there to receive the proclamation," she added.
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She said they will also be present on Oct. 27 with the Historical Society in League City to "officially see the display and connect with stories and pictures."
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