× Forty nine years, John van Raalte made one of his daughter's wishes come true by submitting a story for publication that was written by the 7-year-old to the Princeton Packet. Forty nine years ago this month, my sweet father John van Raalte made one of my wishes come true, and it involved The Princeton Packet. I was a young girl of seven then and wanted a story I had written to be published in the paper. My father, being the kind of man who would move heaven and earth to grant a wish of mine and to bring me joy, paid for a classified ad in The Princeton Packet just to please me.