When was the poem “Footprints in the Sand” written and by who?
Footprints in the Sand has been seen in print by people the world over since the late 1940’s. All that time no author has been credited with this immortal work, only ‘Author Anonymous’ has appeared at the bottom. This web site was created to bring to light the story behind ‘Footprints in the Sand’ and its author Mary Stevenson (Zangare). For many years handwritten copies were distributed by Mary to those who needed something to give them comfort at a low point in their lives. It was sometime after this that friends of Mary saw it in print and wondered why she wasn’t given credit for writing it. An attorney at that time told her that it would be very hard to prove her the author since it had been used by many publishers of religious materials and greeting cards. Mary wrote ‘Footprints’ in 1936 when she was very young and knew nothing of copyrighting. Discouraged she didn’t pursue it any further. In 1984 while cleaning out the garage to prepare to move from her house, in a small suitcase
In January 1980 Mary Stevenson lost her husband Basil in his battle with heart disease and decided it was time for a change of scenery. She moved out of the home she shared with her family for over twenty-five years. During the move she came across a small forgotten valise filled with many of the poems she had written over the years. Among all this was a lost copy of ‘Footprints in the Sand’ that she hadn’t seen since moving into the house in 1959. She decided to pursue her claim to authorship and later in the year was awarded a copyright for her poem. Eleven years later her 1939 copy of “Footprints in the Sand” was authenticated as genuine by a forensic specialist and said to be approximately fifty-plus years old. This would pre-date any claims made by others of authorship including Margaret Fishback-Powers who has said to have written it 1964. Sources: http://www.footprints-inthe-sand.com/index.php?p
