WashijaReaching Out To The Family
Even if the owners might be alive, they could have moved away to a different state or country in all these years. Baltzell thought the best solution as of now would be to find their next of kin and return the wallets to them. Now that he had a plan in mind, the pastor had to figure out how to make it work.
Social Media
Baltzell decided that the best way to reach out to people will be through social media platforms. So he put out a Facebook post putting in the details about the incident along with a list of names from the I.D. cards and a picture of the stolen wallets.
The Facebook Post
His post read, “While working on the old high school in Centralia, Illinois, we recently found a stash of, what we assume are stolen wallets, from the mid-1940s. While someone took the cash they left behind all the pictures, information, and other documents. I’m gonna throw some names in here of what appears to be mostly women, so these are probably maiden names. If you know the owner or a family member, we would love to get it back to you!”
The Response
Baltzell didn’t have much hope when he put out the post but the response he got was amazing. He watched in astonishment as the likes and shares started to roll in. People were commenting and sharing the news to help him find the family or a relative of the owner.
Ineffective Results
Despite providing such clear identification details, and people sharing the posts thousands of times, the results of the social media search were not proving to be effective. Nobody was able to find any of the owners who were alive nor were they able to find any relative. Until one day, when a person contacted Baltzell regarding a name on his list.
Betty June Sissom
The user informed the pastor that she is related to Betty June Sissom, a name on Baltzwell’s list. Betty lived in Centralia and attended the now-diminished high school where these wallets were found. She graduated back in 1947 and now, she is an 89 years old woman living in Chesterfield, Missouri.