Weekend Junk Finds: vintage Letterman sweater

I mentioned in Friday's post two things: Porter started preschool and I found some fun junk at the thrift store. These two items are totally related, because the latter could not have happened without the former! Porter now goes to school two days per week for about 2.5 hours each day, so I have five lovely hours all to myself (well, not always--last week I watched a friend's baby one day and then volunteered at the school on the other. But the potential is there, anyway). I've been staying well clear of the thrift stores lately because I'm trying to get stuff out of the house, not bring more in. However, I had to celebrate Porter's first day of preschool with a solo trip to the thrift stores! I was rewarded with some fun finds, one of which I want to show today.

That particular day at the thrift store, all of the winter-type clothing (coats, sweaters, etc) was 50% off. I took a spin through the women's racks to see if I could find anything to keep or resell but didn't even think to look at the men's section. As I was walking to the registers at the front to pay, something caught my eye:

a vintage letterman's sweater! It wasn't even hanging with any other sweaters so I'm not sure what it was doing there, other than patiently waiting for me to find it. :D

At first I thought maybe it was a reproduction or a newer version, but this tag clued me in that it was the real thing. Then I saw the number on the arm and got really excited:

1943! Very cool. As I was inspecting it, I found one more little treasure:

the owner's name, embroidered on the inside placket. So naturally, I Googled him, and guess what--I found the owner! Mr. Moog passed away last November, and through the magic of the Internets I found his obituary. He was "Top Boy" and graduated from high school in 1943 in Eveleth, Minnesota--hence the giant E. He served in the Navy after graduating, then went on to work as an aeronautical engineer. He even worked at Lockheed Martin on the Viking Mars Lander and Space Shuttle programs!

I think the sweater is a really fun find, but I must admit that after recently losing my own grandfather I feel like it's my duty to see if I can make contact with any of the children named in the obituary and ask if they want their dad's high school letterman sweater returned to them. I can imagine that after he passed away his belongings were donated to charity and that's how they ended up at the thrift store. If I can't locate anyone or if they don't want it, then I'll keep the sweater and at least my conscience will be satisfied!