STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (KFOR/Storyful) – Love letters written by a WWII veteran to his wife, were discovered in the ceiling of a home on Staten Island during a renovation. The long-lost letters became a priceless gift to the couple’s adult daughter, who couldn’t stop smiling as she read them.

Claude Marsten Smythe wrote the love letters to his wife, Marie Borgal Smythe.

The Staten Island homeowner kept the letters for 30 years after first discovering them, unsure of what to do with them.

While watching an afternoon television show, she saw an interview with a woman named Chelsey Brown, an “heirloom investigator,” who specializes in returning lost heirlooms to families.

The homeowner contacted Brown, who used the genealogy website MyHeritage.com, to track down Carol Bohlin, the daughter of Claude and Marie, who currently lives in Vermont.

The letter pictured above is dated May 21st, 1944, and reads in part, “Dearest Marie… Today being Sunday, I expect to attend Church. Best of all I enjoy singing hymns. It reminds me of the wonderful times we had together going to meetings… I do hope you will be feeling better soon…Glad to hear you attend the church suppers, your lucky to win the pie. Yum Yum, I bet it was very good. Well, love and kisses and a huge big hug… Your Hubby, Claude Smythe”