Although it has been 50 years, retired Akron teacher Judy Williamson Mervine recalls assigning a letter for second-graders to write in December 1966 at Lawndale Elementary in Kenmore.
She told the pupils to let Santa Claus know what they wanted for Christmas. Checking their work, the second-year instructor saw that most of the kids had scrawled standard requests for toys.
Then she read a letter from a 7-year-old girl that absolutely floored her:
“Dear Santa Claus: Please stop the war in Vietnam and give all of my toys to the people there so they will have a good Christmas and if I don’t get any toys I won’t care because Christmas is when the baby Jesus was born in the manger and we have gifts to celebrate Christmas. Your friend, Kimberly Ann Stover”
The poignant, altruistic note warmed Mervine’s heart. In 35 years of teaching, she never again saw anything like it.
“Everybody else was writing ‘I want a doll,’ ‘I want a bike’ or whatever fad thing they were trying to sell to these kids,” Mervine recalled. “And she just came up with this thing all on her own. I was totally shocked.”
Mervine said Kim “was a truly amazing little girl,” and she’s maintained contact with her for 50 years.
Kim, the daughter of Ruth and Doug Stover, thought she was in trouble when she was called to the school office, but found Beacon Journal reporter Eddi Parker waiting to interview her. Mervine had told the paper about the letter, which was published Dec. 22, the day after Kim’s eighth birthday.
In the article, the girl said she believed in Santa, but she wasn’t sure he could fulfill her request. “After all, Vietnam is a long way off and Santa might not get there because his reindeer might get tired,” she said.
In conclusion, Parker wrote: “P.S. Santa Claus: If, by any chance, there’s anything left over after you’ve delivered those toys in Vietnam, Kimberly would like a baby doll.”
Gift from distant land
A mysterious package arrived Jan. 11, 1967, at the Stover home on Carey Avenue. With the help of her mother, Kim opened the box and found a tall, beautiful Vietnamese doll.
“She wore a long silk turquoise dress with slits up either side revealing white silk slacks underneath, and on her head she wore a white conical hat, which was tied under her chin,” recalled Kim Stover, who will turn 58 on Wednesday.
Accompanying the gift was a letter that Stover describes as “the most amazing thing that had ever happened to me.”
“Dear Kimberly Ann: You don’t know me, but I know you from a clipping my parents sent me. I want to thank you for the wish you asked Santa Claus for. I am here in Vietnam, and I would like Santa Claus to stop the war over here so I could be home with my family. … I hope you had a merry Christmas. Your friend, P.F.C. Jim Ripley.”
A 1964 Hower High School graduate, Ripley, 21, the son of Robert and Anita Ripley, was spending his first Christmas away from home after being drafted in the U.S. Army. He was stationed near Saigon and worked as a heavy vehicle driver in Company B of the 69th Engineering Battalion.
In a thank-you note, the Kenmore girl replied: “Dear P.F.C. Jim: Thank you for the doll. I like the doll very, very much. And I like you as much as the doll. You are a very nice man. My letter to Santa Claus about stopping the war didn’t do any good. And thank you for the picture. When you get out of the war, please come and see me. Your friend, Kimberly Ann Stover.”
Ripley was transferred to the Mekong Delta to build base camps for troops and was exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange. After 13 months of deployment, Ripley was honorably discharged.
Meeting ‘gentle spirit’
Stover recalls a tall stranger — the soldier who had sent the doll — visiting her family. He had a “gentle spirit, kind smile and easy demeanor” as they met, beginning a lifelong friendship.
The Stovers moved that summer to Hagerstown, Md., where Ripley and his fiancée, Linda, stopped to visit on vacation. The family eventually settled in Tennessee. Kim majored in creative writing at the University of Tennessee, where she received surprise visitors at her 1981 graduation.
Jim and Linda Ripley and their kids Sally, Jimmy and Melanie were vacationing at a cabin in Tennessee when they made a side trip to the university. They managed to find Stover among hundreds of graduates.
“Jim tried to pass a note to me from the stands, but I never got it,” Stover recalled. “However, when I was walking to the stage to receive my diploma, a man stepped out from the stands and asked if I were Kim Stover. I said yes, and he said ‘I’m Jim Ripley.’ I couldn’t believe it!”
Stover received a master’s degree in education at Tennessee and taught high school English for 32 years in Columbus, Ind., before retiring in 2015.
“No matter what I do with the rest of my life, I’m glad to have had the chance to pass on my passion for writing and literature to my students,” she said.
Every Dec. 21, Ripley called Stover to wish her a happy birthday.
War takes a toll
Vietnam took a toll on his health. He had post-traumatic stress disorder from combat. Because of exposure to Agent Orange, he lost pigmentation of his skin and developed a heart condition.
In 2009, he was diagnosed with mild dementia, suffering memory loss and confused thinking. The condition worsened, making communication difficult, but he hasn’t forgotten his friend Kim.
“When it’s around Christmastime and I’m decorating, he knows it’s getting close to her birthday,” Linda Ripley said. “He doesn’t use the phone anymore, so he will bug me and bug me until I call her.”
Last summer, Stover visited the Ripleys in Canal Fulton, and brought a friend: her doll. Jim Ripley was so happy.
“He never mentioned her name, but he knew the minute she walked in the door who she was,” Linda Ripley said. “Just to see them hug and communicate with each other, it just brought tears to your eyes.”
They visited the Ohio Veterans’ Memorial Park in Clinton, and Ripley and Stover sat on a bench and enjoyed a quiet chat. In the fall, Linda Ripley led a drive to honor Jim’s service with a special tile in the park’s Family of Heroes Memorial Hall.
It was an emotional day as the family unveiled the black granite tribute that features Army photos of Ripley, who is now 71. He and his wife have visited the park several times.
“Half a century later, our shared wish for an end to armed conflict still resonates,” Stover said. “And my Vietnamese doll still stands on my desk, a testament to a young soldier’s big heart and a young girl’s belief in Santa Claus and in goodness itself.”
Beacon Journal copy editor Mark J. Price is the author of the book Lost Akron from The History Press. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.