An unexpected blast from the past made this Christmas uniquely special for one Portage la Prairie resident. Wayne Wall was presented with a wallet that he lost 59 years ago shortly before close friend, Jerry Maksymyk, shared some other nostalgic items with him.

"This morning (Wednesday), Jerry (Maksymyk) sent me some photos of myself, himself, his wife and kids from over 40 years ago, when I was taking them for an airplane ride down to Leta's (Maksymyk, Jerry's wife) folks' place down south," says Wall. "I got looking at those and said, 'By the way, the night before last, a guy came to my front door with a wallet that I lost 59 years ago in a crawl space.'"

Wall says he was obviously surprised and so pleased. He notes he was initially so overwhelmed that he forgot to ask the man's name who returned it to him.

"I just I thanked him. I took it and I went through it over and over," says Wall. "I laid everything out on the table and took a picture of it. It had my apprenticeship card. That was 1962, the first year of my plumbing apprenticeship. It had my driver's license, four $1.00 bills, a receipt for a ring from Garland and Wilson Jewellers for $18.00 and some cents. It must have been a beautiful ring," chuckles Wall. "And there was a membership card to the 350 club at Nick's Cafe. They had a teen club in the backroom. And there was another club membership to the teen club at the Presbyterian Church. It used to be a fun place to go and listen to records and dance."

He adds he also had a picture of himself and his little brother who was three years old at the time.

several wallet cards and old Canadian currency spread out on a tableThe contents of the wallet.

"It was really something and I just came back from Shewfelt's," adds Wall. "I had to go out there and find out the fellow's name, and his name was Dillon Vrooman -- the guy that found my wallet in the crawl space. And I said, 'Well, just imagine. Now he was crawling around in that crawl space in 2021, the same one I was crawling around in doing the same kind of work, probably in 1962."

Wall notes he dropped off a little Christmas cheer for Vrooman at Shewfelt's and left him a message.

He says he doesn't remember actually losing the wallet, seeing as it's so long ago, but was amazed at how Maksymyk had just been showing him some 40-year-old photos of them all, when he had been given a wallet he lost 59 years ago.

An old black and white photo of a teen boy and toddler standing in front of a vehicle.The photo of Wall and his three-year-old brother.

"I'm just really grateful that he brought it to me, and went out of his way to bring it," adds Wall.

"I saw a Shewfelt's truck come down my street and I said, 'I wonder where that's going.' It went to my next door neighbours. And I said, 'Well, he's got the wrong house there because he's not from the company that did their plumbing.' And then he pulled into my driveway and I said, 'Oh my, he's coming coming here, too.' He must be looking for Kitsons, because Shewfelt did all the Kitsons' work.' But no, he was looking for me and he had my wallet."