A forgotten envelope marked "do not touch for 25 years" has made a Waikato primary school famous online after the 78-year-old former principal returned to open it.
Office manager Mandy found the large white envelope in a fireproof container tucked into a corner of Walton School's photocopy room.
The handwritten instructions on the front said it should be opened in 2025. They also told whoever found it to contact "Mr Marlow or if dead - current principal".
Principal Jeremy Kurth told 1News the container had sat there unnoticed for years.
"It's been there for years and years and years, just sort of tucked in the corner, and Mandy was doing a clean-up of that area the other day. She came into my office and said, 'Look what I found'," he said.
Inside were 24 smaller envelopes, each with a child’s name on the front. The note said those should go back to the pupils unopened.
The 78-year-old former principal it named came back to open it, a year later than planned. (Source: Supplied)
The school didn’t open anything straight away. It asked former principal Bob Marlow to do it and filmed him for Facebook.
In the video, Marlow reads out each name and says where that pupil ended up.
“He got through all 24 envelopes, knowing exactly where they were, and whether they were in New Zealand or further abroad. It’s incredible,” Kurth said.
He said he had been nervous Marlow would get stuck.
“I was thinking, oh man, he’s setting himself up for when he can’t think of one.”
The school expected the post to stay local. About 200 comments had come in by bedtime and close to 900 by the next morning, mostly from overseas. One came from the Faroe Islands, a remote group of islands between Scotland and Iceland.
Kurth said people could see themselves as 10-year-olds in the story.
"It's such an innocent time. You've got your whole world ahead of you, and your ambitions are unfiltered," he said.
"This has been discovered 26 years later, and it's like, well, have these people been able to do it?"
He said the story also showed how long a teacher's influence could last.
"Here's the former principal, still able to reconnect with his students of 26 years ago. You never know where your impact will end."
Four former pupils living overseas have emailed the school so far. One pupil's mother has collected the envelope for her son in Melbourne, and another former pupil lives in the South Island.
"There's still a majority there on the coffee table, so we're still trying to get through it," Kurth said.
Former pupils who aren't on Facebook can email the school at: principal@walton.school.nz.
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