Time capsules can tell us a lot about the past, but usually they’re buried by a group with a specific dig-up date in mind. When a woman put hers aside in 1966, however, she probably had no idea that it would reach her husband 48 years later.

Betty Klug was just 33 when she wrote a letter to the future about the times, which included the Vietnam war and the Beatles craze, and put it aside in the basement of her Arizona home. Ten years later, she died in a car accident, leaving the letter and a family photo behind unnoticed. When contractor John Murray arrived at the home this year to tear down some walls, he found the items and knew he had to try and track down their rightful owner.

“It was on the floor over there with a pile of insulation…we’ve done hundreds of houses but never found anything like this,” Murray said.

With the help of a local news station, Murray found 79-year old Bruce Klug living in Scotsdale and presented him with his find, to an understandably emotional reaction. Klug says he had no idea his wife had left the items in their old house and reminisced about their relationship.

“I don’t know how I did it,” he said of going on after her death. “Went back to work within a week…we had the best marriage. Not once did we argue about anything.”

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