Lost wallet returned by caring couple, Article in Elk Rapids News on 7/22/2010

Dear Editor,

Owning a house with my wife in Elk Rapids, I often read your letters to the editor and thought this would make a good one.

Spying a beautiful Michigan Saturday, I made all the preparations, hooked up the boat and headed out to enjoy a fun-filled day on the lake. My destination is normally Elk, Torch or East Bay. This time though, with friends out on Glen Lake, I headed west. Needing to gas up, I stopped at Grumpy’s (the Mobile station on M-72). While filling up, I placed my wallet with cash and credit card on the bumper. And now for the rest of the story:

We’ve all been there, the panic when you realize you’ve left your purse or wallet somewhere. Mine happened just after I dropped the boat in the drink! Thinking just by chance someone saw it and picked it up and called my work and got my cell phone and called me to leave me a message, I checked. Nancy Gribi had left me a message. She and her husband, Roger, had seen my wallet ‘explode’ on M72 with cash, credit cards flying everywhere. They took the time to gather it all together and sleuth out the owner. After talking to them on the phone, I met Roger by boat on Glen Lake where he told me he was a builder who lives just a couple miles from our Elk Rapids house on Campbell Road. After relating this story to several people, it may have seemed like a long shot for my story to turn out this way, but with Roger and Nancy it was typical. I am very grateful to have had the day turn out much better than expected.

Dana Pratt, Kewadin