Kind postman returns little girl's Father's Day letter addressed to 'Dad in heaven'

Editor's note: This article was originally published on June 24, 2021. It has since been updated.

A postman is winning hearts online after he went above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that a child's Father's Day letter to her late dad reached the right hands. Eight-year-old Sianna Tully begged her mom, Sarah, to let her post the letter late on June 20. Speaking to Leicestershire Live, the mother-of-two revealed that when the young girl asked her where her daddy lives so she could address the letter to him, she had to think on her feet and replied: "Heaven, on Cloud Nine." Sianna wrote the letter in private and with the help of her mother, posted it in a letterbox near their home in Bewicke Road, Braunstone, Leicester.

"Sianna just came into the room that evening and asked 'where does Daddy live?' so she could write the address to a letter she had written," Sarah said. "I have no idea what is in it, I always say that's between her and her dad. I told her it was too late to post it at first but she started crying, so I said 'come on then' and we walked to the post box down the street." She explained that Sianna's father passed away in an accident eight years ago when she was just four months old.

As she gets older, Sarah said, Sianna is becoming more inquisitive about her father. She now writes a letter to him for every birthday, Christmas, and Father's Day. The youngster's latest letter to her dad was eventually found by a postman named Simon inside a post box in Braunstone while working overtime on a route he typically doesn't cover. Speaking to BBC, he said he was "taken aback" when he read the address on the homemade envelope as he had also lost his own father last year.

"Obviously without a stamp or an actual address on it, if it got put in with the rest of the stuff to be delivered it would just end up getting thrown away in transit somewhere," said Simon. "I spoke to my manager and asked if I could try to get hold of the family to find out more about it and get it back to them." Determined to return the letter to the family, he posted a picture of it on the Spotted Braunstone Facebook page where it attracted thousands of comments. "I'm a postman in the Braunstone area; earlier today I emptied the red pillar box on Bewicke Road (junction of Folville Avenue) and there was a letter in a child's handwriting addressed to their dad in heaven, cloud 9," he wrote.

"I'm trying to find the parents of the child as I would like to reach out to them and with their permission sort out a little something for the child. I myself lost my dad last year and as an adult found it hard so I can only imagine what this child is going through. Please, if anyone has any details then it would be hugely appreciated," Simon added. Within 15 minutes, Sarah started to receive dozens of tags on Facebook. "I couldn't believe what I saw," she said. "I am absolutely overwhelmed by the response of the postman and of everyone who has seen the post. I haven't stopped crying since. I never thought for one second that anyone would find it or do anything with it."

Sarah revealed that once she got in touch with Simon, they had the most "wonderful" conversation and made arrangements to have the unopened letter returned to her. The pair met a couple of days later and Simon gave the "lovely little girl" a father and daughter figurine as a gift. Sarah now plans to keep the letter — along with prints of the heartwarming social media comments — in a special box for her daughter when she is older.