A 95-year-old Rhode Island man gets over 15-thousand Christmas cards to raise his spirits years after losing his wife around the holidays. Lucile Dowling loved Christmas so much that every year she would put up her family’s tree the day after Thanksgiving. So when she passed away in late 2013, her husband of nearly 70 years George Dowling took down the decorations and decided not to celebrate.
Dowling’s daughter, Suzan Brito, couldn’t stand to see her dad so down at the holidays, so the next year she asked their loved ones to send him Christmas cards. "Dad loves getting mail," she explains. "I thought, maybe some Christmas cards would make him happy." It did the trick, and the cards became an annual tradition. But then last year, Dowling only received 14 cards and Brito says it wasn’t enough to get him through the season.
So when the holidays rolled around this year, Brito’s daughter, Charlene Fletcher turned to social media to ask people to send her granddad some Christmas cheer and they didn’t disappoint. Fletcher is keeping a running total on social media and at last count, Dowling had received well over 15-thousand cards. And Brito says the cards have really made a big difference. "These people, I can't even thank them enough. He gets so sad and this just perks him up," she says. "It's just amazing."
Source: People