A 9-year-old boy with a passion for penning letters is reviving the lost art by writing to everyday heroes—and asking them to share their most cherished memories.
“I like to write letters to people,” Tucker Rose from North Carolina told The Epoch Times. “And I like checking the mail.”
The only boy among six sisters, Tucker spends a lot of time with his father, Daniel Rose, who provides him with opportunities and resources to help him grow and make a difference in the world. Daniel also shares his hobbies with his son and imparts the traditions he grew up with.
Getting Started
Letter writing is a hobby close to Daniel’s heart—he started when he was in high school.“I used to write to baseball players and ask them to autograph my baseball card, and they did,” Daniel, an event manager, said. “I thought that was so cool, because who would have ever thought that’s how you could get an autograph from your favorite player?”
Inspired, he caught the letter-writing bug and began sending letters to movie stars, receiving responses from them. His “coolest” one was from Titanic survivor Millvina Dean, he said.
Continuing the hobby, for Tucker’s first birthday, Daniel wrote to different bands asking for a guitar pick for his son. He received five replies. As Tucker got older, he grew curious about the picks. He asked his dad about the letters and requested that he send out more.
When Tucker was 4, Daniel began teaching him how to write his name. As the homeschooled little boy mastered that, his father encouraged him to write a few more words. The pair continued writing letters to people they admired.
With responses pouring in, Daniel used this as an opportunity to teach Tucker how to read.
Not long after, Tucker—who insists on opening the mailbox himself—immersed himself in reading. He started picking up complex words such as “Afghanistan” and more.
As Tucker grew older and wrote more letters with his father, he received responses from notable personalities such as actor Jon Voight, who played the main character’s father in the 2004 film “National Treasure,” and Tina Louise, who played Ginger in “Gilligan’s Island.”
In reading their responses, Daniel and Tucker learned what people valued the most.
From Voight, they learned that his passion for acting was sparked by his father reading bedtime stories to him and his siblings each night.
Meanwhile in her reply, Louise—who works with young kids learning to read—didn’t reference her time on television but instead encouraged Tucker to read.
“It’s cool to see people in other professions ... say, ‘I do this, but my heart is really here,’” Daniel said. “And sometimes, they really open up and give tremendous insight into their own personal lives and what makes them happy.”
Daniel believes the coolest response Tucker has received was a two-page handwritten letter from a woman who was on the bus with civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
“She talked about how [the] two of them worked at Montgomery Fair department store together, and they were on the bus together, and she told what happened from her perspective,” Daniel said.
Everyday Heroes
However, Tucker’s letter exchanges aren’t just limited to celebrities.In 2021, when the Rose family moved to Sneads Ferry, North Carolina, close to Camp Lejeune, they discovered a group, Military Missions in Action. It’s a veterans organization that sends care packages to deployed soldiers around the world.
Seeing an opportunity to send letters to deployed troops, Daniel asked Tucker if he was interested, and he eagerly agreed.
After some discussion, they decided that 1,000 letters was a challenging but reachable goal. A local business donated paper and envelopes, and Tucker got to work, signing each of the printed letters.
After receiving about 30 to 40 responses from that first batch, Tucker felt encouraged to repeat the process. This time, he sent off 2,000 letters, signing his name on 100 letters per day.
My name is Tucker, and my dad and I like to write letters to people that we admire since I’m nine years old. Dad is helping me type this letter so you can read. Our family has a long history of military service, and it’s my privilege to say thank you for your service. We’ve had many deployments in our family, and we understand and appreciate the sacrifices that are made. I’m proud to work with Military Missions in Action to include my letter in your care package as a part of my personal goal of 2,000 letters. I hope that my efforts will bring a smile during your deployment. We appreciate you and pray for your safety and strength. My dad says that writing letters helps me practice writing my name, open up to strangers in a safe way, and teaches me respect that I will remember throughout my life. One of my favorite things to do each day is check the mail. I love finding letters that say “to Tucker.” If you’re allowed to write back, I have included a return envelope, and would love it if you would send me a letter and tell me a few of your best memories from your life. Dad wants me to have a lot of positive examples as I grow up, and a handwritten letter from you would be something I would cherish and share with my own kids one day.Tucker has also made it a tradition to handwrite a dozen letters to survivors and the families of victims of 9/11 every September.
“It’s just a reminder of, ‘Hey, you’re not forgotten, your family is not forgotten, we’re thinking about you,’” Daniel said. “It’s a way for him to grow up with them, where each year they get another letter from him, and they can see the progression of how he writes, what he writes, the content that he writes, and you know, hopefully, it goes on for the rest of his life with that select group.”
These experiences and interactions, Daniel said, have been vital for Tucker. They have served as powerful teachable moments in his and his siblings’ homeschooling education. They’ve been an opportunity to learn selflessness.
