More than a dozen emails and phone messages poured into The Press in response to Monday's article, "A father's love survives the ages."

Through the work of history sleuths and readers across the Northwest, the family of Dolores and F. Godfrey has been found.

"I am so dumbfounded by it all," Pamela Hilson Byam said Monday.

Byam is the eldest daughter of Dolores Hilson, whose father, Fred Albert Godfrey, in 1936 wrote a beautiful letter to his little girl that was found tucked behind one of his paintings.

Byam was awestruck by the timing of the article because her family just welcomed another little girl into the world on Sunday.

"The coincidence between the birth of our great-granddaughter and this painting just sends chills down my spine," Byam said. "I'm still in shock."

Byam said she was contacted by a niece in Ephrata, who has a friend with the last name Godfrey who has a friend in Coeur d'Alene. The Coeur d'Alene friend saw the article and contacted Godfrey because of the last name, and the niece sent the story along to her aunt after connecting the dots.

"I’m just dumbfounded by it all," Byam said. "I’d love to have the letter in hand to read it."

Dolores was born to Fred A. and Marvel A. Godfrey in Wenatchee on May 17, 1927. Four days later, her father wrote a poem for his new baby. The poem was included in the letter, which was found 30 years ago by Diane Kasparek of Orcas Island, Wash., who got the painting from an antique mall in Coeur d'Alene. She tried to find the original owners then, but to no avail.

While recently cleaning out her studio, she found the painting and thought she'd try again.

"I think there might be a living relative who would like to have that in their family," Kasparek said in the original Press article.

Dolores grew up to marry Jack Hilson, owner of the Grand Coulee Star newspaper, in 1946 and have four children: daughters Pamela and Sandra and twin boys Douglas and Dale. Dale passed away in 2012.

Dolores died in 2006, followed by Jack in 2015. Her younger sister, Darlene, died in 1999. Their father, Fred, lived until 1988.

Byam's younger sister, Sandra Hilson of Spokane, said she doesn't remember much of her grandfather because he moved to Texas after he and her grandmother divorced. She said her mom didn't know about the letter, but she would have loved to read it.

"She had no idea that he even really cared about her," Sandra said. "The last time I saw him was '72, '73 when he came up."

Dolores inherited her father's artistic abilities and passed them down the family tree. Sandra, of Spokane, is an abstract artist who runs Hilson Gallery and Design.

"He was an artist," Byam said of their grandfather. "I’m sure that’s where we all got it."

"Mom was a beautiful artist," Sandra said.

The sisters cried all morning after learning of the article. Neither knew of the painting and letter, or knew of the estate sale from whence the painting came.

"I’m so thrilled," Sandra said. "I don’t know what to say. Talk about timing."