An orphan received his mother's long-lost baptismal certificate after it mysteriously arrived at a California church 71 years late. 

Lucas Woodward, 33, was only a toddler when his mother Pamela Jean Haslam died. So little did he expect for her to pop back up in his life just weeks before his wedding. 

But then he got a call from Rector Stephen McHale, of the Christ Episcopal Church in Alameda, California, in late August. 

McHale and his church had been the recipient of a mysterious letter that arrived with a postmark of October 26, 1955. 

Inside the white envelope, which had a 2026 return-to-sender date, was Woodward's mother's baptismal certificate. 

'It just came with zero explanation,' McHale told the Daily Mail. 'I'm curious what it as doing just sitting there [all this time].' 

McHale will likely never find out, but a spokesperson for the United States Postal Service (USPS) told the Daily Mail they do not believe the important document has been actively going through the system for 71 years, but rather it may have re-entered it.  

'In most cases like this, these incidents do not involve mail that had been lost in our network and later found. What we typically find is that old letters and postcards – sometimes purchased at flea markets, antique shops and even online – are re-entered into our system,' they said. 

Billions of pieces of mail are circulated and processed through USPS each year, with postal workers coming in contact with an average of more than five million pieces per business day, the spokesperson said. 

'Based on that figure, we can estimate that since 1955 there have been more than 11.5 trillion pieces of mail processed and ultimately delivered,' they said. 

But the letter popped back up at the perfect moment for Woodward, who now lives in Michigan, as it allowed him to have a piece of his mother at his wedding. 

Pamela had died from cancer in 1996, when Woodward was just a toddler. Around 10 years later, his father, John, would pass away, leaving the teenager an orphan. 

'It was a voice from a distant path,' McHale told the Daily Mail. 'He was really [happy].' 

McHale managed to find the Michigander after posting the baptismal certificate to a local Facebook group, which set off amateur sleuths hungry to find Pamela's family. Through genealogy records, locals discovered Woodward and a phone number connected to him. 

'I was delighted,' the rector said. The pair shared a 'lovely' phone call and he described Woodward as one of the kindest people. 

McHale also learned through correspondence with the Midwesterner that Pamela's parents, Robert and Lois Haslam, had briefly been stationed at the now-closed Air Force Base in Alameda during the Korean War while Robert was in the navy. 

The family would eventually move to Massachusetts. 

'Lucas said they left Alameda fairly quickly, so it’s possible they left town before the letter could be delivered,' McHale wrote on Facebook. 

The church was able to verify the document's authenticity, as their handwritten records showed Pamela was baptized at the church. The address on the envelope was also the old Air Force Base's location. 

The special document has since been mailed to Michigan, where Woodward had it just in time for his wedding.  

The Daily Mail has reached out to Woodward for comment.