A FIFE teacher got the surprise of her life yesterday morning when her late father’s wallet turned up in the post after having been missing for over 14 years.

Mary King, who lives in Lochgelly, has absolutely no idea who sent back the wallet, which contained several important documents including her parents’ marriage certificate.

Miss King, who teaches at Lumphinnans Primary, told The Courier she was delighted to have the items back and appealed to whoever sent them to get in touch.

She is now keen to say thank you in person to whoever took such trouble to track her down.

As she explained, the mystery began yesterday morning when the postman delivered her mail. A plain envelope, addressed to “Mrs King” rather than Miss King, dropped through the letterbox.

Inside was the wallet, which she suspects her mother, who was also called Mary, probably lost shortly before she died.

“It must have belonged to my father, but my mother had obviously kept it with things like the certificates in it,” Miss King said.

“She died in 1989 and when we had to produce the various certificates, we couldn’t find them anywhere—and believe me, we turned the house upside down. We had to get copies made in the end.”

As well as her parents’ marriage certificate, the wallet contained their birth certificates and her father’s death certificate dating from 1963.

There were also two receipts that her mother had kept. One was for a suit Mrs King bought to wear to her daughter’s graduation and the other, dating back to 1963, was from the York Station Hotel.

“That was from a holiday we had just after my father died,” Miss King said.

She admitted she was baffled by the wallet’s sudden reappearance. There were no clues either in the envelope, or on the outside.

“It’s just a shame they hadn’t put their name and address, so I could say thanks.”