During renovations to a bathroom at the Plaza Theater movie theater, contractors discovered a hidden space behind a collapsed wall. Under a mountain of dust, in what used to be a closet, sat a withered burgundy wallet, frozen in time.
Untouched for 65 years, the object had a raffle to win a brand new 1959 Chevrolet, credit cards without a magnetic stripe and black and white family photos.
From then on, Plaza Theater owner Chris Escobar was determined to return the wallet to the family.
“It was a portal back in time. And then, realizing that this was missing from this family of real people, who had lived in this neighborhood for 65 years, imagine if we could find them,” Escobar told CNN.
The Plaza Theatre, Atlanta's oldest movie theater and a cultural landmark, houses all sorts of old things. Escobar highlighted that they have already found old popcorn displays with signs, bottles of spirits that are no longer in fashion, but finding this wallet that hadn't been seen for half a century was different.[aencontraramantigasvitrinesdepipocacomletreirosgarrafasdebebidasespirituosasquenãoestãomaisnamodamasacharessacarteiraquenãoeravistahámeioséculofoidiferente
The wallet was “full of history”, highlighted the owner, providing a good starting point for finding its owner’s family.
The owner of the object was Floy Culbreth, according to a document inside the wallet. But Escobar ran into the first problem: Women were often referred to by their husband's name at that time, causing searches for Culbreth's name to yield few results.
Help from the “internet detective”
So Chris Escobar recruited his wife, Nicole, whom he calls his “internet detective,” to track down the wallet's owner.
She managed to find the obituary of Roy Culbreth, Floy's husband. From there, it led them down a list of their children and grandchildren, until they came across a website for the Culbreth Cup, a charity golf tournament for a cerebral palsy nonprofit supported by the family.
The couple were then able to trace the family lineage back to the Culbreths' daughter, Thea Chamberlain. Now 71, she was just 6 when her mother lost her license.
“I already feel that it is a privilege to be able to care for and operate this historic space. But literally giving back to family history. This is a gift,” Escobar noted.
Chamberlain said her mother was described as as beautiful as actress Myrna Loy, with the personality of “a saucy June Cleaver.” She remembers neighborhood kids saying watching her mom was more fun than watching “I Love Lucy.”
Culbreth was also very involved in the community, teaching Sunday school and participating in the gardening club, her daughter said, and also participating in nonprofit work to help people with cerebral palsy.
Thea Chamberlain even found some of her belongings in her wallet: some insurance cards and a doctor's note.
The items in the wallet were undoubtedly his mother's, Chamberlain commented. She could imagine Culbreth hoping they'd win that Chevrolet raffle or hiding his shopping cards.
“It was very moving. “A flood of memories came back and kind of brought her back,” she reported.
Recovering the lost wallet
The Culbreths came together in November to retrieve the wallet and honor their family.
“We had children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with us. Therefore, several generations of the Culbreths were there to recover this lost piece of family history,” said Escobar.
Chamberlain watched two of his grandchildren, ages seven and five, carefully examine the receipts and photos, asking their parents about their story.
“They knew it was something to be valued That this was a special moment”, he celebrated.
Source: CNN Brasil
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