Calif. library book returned 74 years overdue

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A California woman is proving it's never too late to make things right.

Ninety-five-year-old Hazel Severson of Sacramento said a friend found a book that Severson's late husband had borrowed from an Amador County library in 1936 while sorting through things for a garage sale.

She knew what she had to do: return the book and offer to pay the overdue fee -- $2,701.

Severson told the Sacramento Bee that she and her husband Howard were newlyweds back when he checked out the hardback, "Seaplane Solo," about Sir Francis Chichester's 1930 solo flight across the Tasman Sea.

Luckily for Severson, the library didn't charge her the fee, though it did accept a small donation when she stopped by Oct. 13.

Librarian Laura Einstadter said it was just happy to get back the book.