June 15 (UPI) — An Oklahoma family was reunited with their recently deceased mother’s Bible after the book was found by a stranger mowing his lawn.
Terry Ward of Nikoma Park said he was mowing his lawn when he spotted a Bible in his flower bed.
“It rained all night so it must have just been there for a little while because it wasn’t wet,” Ward told KFOR-TV. “Just laying there with some screws and some bullets.”
Ward said the Bible had the name “Pearl Williams” and the year 1946 printed on it, so he contacted City Hall, but there was no record of anyone with that name living in the town.
Ward enlisted the help of the Nicoma Park Police Department, which analyzed some documents tucked into the Bible and found an address in Del City.
“So I contacted the Del City Police Department and they went by the address,” Nicoma Park Police Lt. Mike Weiss said. “Luckily, the Bible’s owner — her son — still lived at that address.”
Lisa Bennett, Williams’ daughter, said it was an emotional reunion with the tome.
“It was very emotional,” she said. “We lost my mom in October. So that was hard enough and now to find out that I have Bible gives me part of her.”
The family does not know how the Bible came to be in Ward’s yard. Police said they are investigating whether the Bible and other items were taken from Williams’ home after her death.
An antiques hunter in Hawaii was recently able to reunite a different sort of precious book, a 1950 high school yearbook, with a woman who hadn’t seen it in years.
Manu Pagaragan said the 1950 yearbook from Honolulu’s Roosevelt High School was in a box of antiques he purchased and he considered selling it until discovering it contained June Landgraf’s diploma.
Pagaragan posted about the discovery on social media and discovered Landgraf was still alive and living at the Hawaii Kai senior living facility in Honolulu. Landgraf’s daughter said the woman was overjoyed to get her yearbook back.