GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - More than 15 years ago, White Bear Lake graphic designer Carolyn Porter found a cache of World War II-era letters in a Stillwater antique shop. She bought a handful of the pages with the intent of using the cursive handwriting as source material for a new computer font. The font was ultimately named P22 Marcel Script in honor of the letter writer, Frenchman Marcel Heuzé.
While working on the font, Carolyn had the letters translated from French to English and learned they had been written to Marcel’s beloved wife and three young daughters, who were back home in France. She also discovered the letters had been written while Marcel was imprisoned inside a labor camp in Berlin.
After reading Marcel’s letters, which include both tender words of love and testimony of survival inside the labor camp, Carolyn became obsessed with finding out if Marcel was reunited with his family. She shared this amazing love story with KARE 11 viewers on Feb. 12, 2018, a few days before Valentine’s Day.
Carolyn Porter has a number of upcoming public events related to her book, Marcel’s Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man’s Fate. Forthcoming events can be found at www.carolyn-porter.com/events.