This article from the NY Times about Verizon looking into how to preserve voice mail messages from people who died reminded me of this extended article from the Washington Post this summer, which I'd saved:
"Once, many months after my father had died, we had an electrical storm that knocked out the power in my house," writes Lisa Valentine of Reston in an e-mail. "The answering machine in my room was blinking furiously when the power finally went back on. I hit the 'play' button and heard my father's voice:" 'Lisa, it's Dad, give me a call.'
"Needless to say, I kind of freaked out until I realized the tape was playing old messages that I thought had been erased forever.
"It was nice to hear from my dad again. But he didn't leave a number where I could reach him."
[NYT by Jayson Blair. WP by Joel Garreau]
