Long-lost handbag finds its way home

The last thing Nadine Eckert expected to see when the doorbell rang a few evenings ago was a young man holding the purse that had been stolen from her vehicle a year ago.

Last fall Eckert inadvertently left her colorful Vera Bradley handbag in her car after she took the groceries into her house. The next morning she realized she didn’t have her purse. It wasn’t in her vehicle. She checked in the alley of her westside home in Kalispell, and even retraced her steps to the grocery store before determining it must have been stolen.

She went through the process of canceling account numbers and taking the appropriate security measures. The purse was gone for good, she thought.

The young man who returned her long-lost purse found it as he was cleaning the leaves off the roof of his grandfather’s home.

“I was shocked,” she said. “I didn’t even ask his name.”

Eckert gave the young man a small reward for his trouble, and later looked through the sun-bleached handbag that had weathered an entire year on a roof. Deep inside, in an inconspicuous compartment she found a $100 bill she’d won in a drawing and had tucked away for safe-keeping. The thief apparently took only the visible cash and then gave the purse a good fling into the air. All of her gift cards were still intact, too.

As Eckert told her friends about the unusual turn of events, they encouraged her to stop by the Inter Lake because this is a story that shows there are still good, honest people out there, they said. And so she did, and now we all know the rest of the story.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.