Man, 95, Gets 13,000 Cards Years After Death of His Wife, Who Loved Christmas: 'So Heartwarming'
Charlene Fletcher/Facebook George Dowling'
After his wife died, a Rhode Island man needed help to keep his spirits bright during the Christmas season. This year, George Dowling's family — and thousands of strangers — went the extra mile to make this a holiday season merry.
Putting out a call for Christmas cards has become an annual tradition for Suzan Brito, who is her 95-year-old father's primary caretaker, according to The Washington Post.
Christmas was a favorite holiday for Dowling's wife of 70 years, Lucille, who even decorated the tree the day after Thanksgiving, the newspaper reported. But in 2013, when she died less than a month before the holiday, he took down all their decorations and decided not to celebrate.
"My father couldn't handle it," said Brito, 64.
Speaking with NBC station WJAR, Dowling said that no matter how many years go by, December always makes him feel "lonesome."
"I miss my wife," he told the outlet, noting that she was the one who "did all the cooking and had all the people come."
Putting it plainly, he told The Washington Post, "she was Christmas."
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So, the next year, Brito decided to ask her loved ones to send him Christmas cards.
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"Dad loves getting mail," she told the Post. "I thought, maybe some Christmas cards would make him happy."
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The experiment quickly became an annual tradition, but it wasn't always so successful — and last year, they only got 14 cards.
"He was so sad," Brito told WJAR. "It didn't carry him through the holiday season."
Determined to do better this year, even Brito's daughter, 45-year-old Charlene Fletcher, got involved, asking on social media if people "could find it in your hearts" to "make his holiday season."
As their story found new audiences on TikTok and through local news outlets, it didn't take long before the cards started coming in droves.
Charlene Fletcher/Facebook George Dowling
In a running total on social media, Fletcher shared that on Nov. 28, they received 73 cards, and just a week later, they got 2,265 in one day. All in all, so far they've received 13,393.
"It's so heartwarming," Fletcher told the Post, adding that some strangers even thanked the family for helping restore their Christmas spirit.
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Brito said the impact this has had on her father is impossible to describe.
"These people, I can't even thank them enough. He gets so sad and this just perks him up," she told WJAR. "It's just amazing."
