Floy Culbreth, who died in 2005 at age 87, lost his wallet at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta in 1958. He recently returned it to his family (courtesy of the Plaza Theater).
Thea Culbreth Chamberlain was speechless as she flipped through her late mother's maroon wallet earlier this year.
Floyd Culbreth He died in 2005 at the age of 87. But Chamberlain saw the contents of the wallet for the first time. She lost her mother in 1958, when Chamberlain was only 6 years old. Suddenly he had a pocket time capsule in his hand that showed what his mother carried with her 65 years ago: Raffle tickets, a library card and old family photos.
A contractor discovered the wallet hidden behind the walls of an Atlanta theater he was renovating in October. Using long-lost documents and Internet research, the theater owner was able to locate Chamberlain and his family and agreed to meet with them in November and return the wallet.
“I don’t know how to express how shocked I was,” Chamberlain, 71, told The Washington Post. “And it took me a while to understand it.”
Chamberlain never knew his mother had lost her wallet at the Plaza Theater in Atlanta. But learning about it decades later didn't completely surprise her, she said.
His mother was always away from home in Atlanta, where she lived for decades with her husband and two children, Chamberlain said. She was known for being “loving, generous and funny,” Chamberlain said. She “He just had a way of welcoming people wherever he went.” and always make her laugh.
“I mean, mom was like watching I Love Lucy,” he said.
Culbreth loved being with people and “bringing lightness to any situation; It was his gift,” Chamberlain said. She was a teacher, an active member of her church, and volunteered for several nonprofit organizations. She set an example for her family, Chamberlain said, by treating everyone with kindness and giving back.
After Culbreth's death in 2005, his family wanted to continue that legacy. In 2011, Chamberlain's children arrived, Wes and Bryan Jones, They founded the golf tournament Culbreth Cup in honor of his grandmother and her husband Roy. Proceeds from the annual event benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Georgia, as supporting people with disabilities was important to Culbreth. She was a founding member of the organization's Atlanta chapter.
Floyd Culbreth holds his daughter Thea
And it was the Culbreth Cup site that was the key to reuniting Culbreth's family with the long-lost purse.
In October, contractors were removing tiles from bathroom walls during the second phase of renovations at the Plaza Theater when they discovered an abandoned closet space, said Christopher Escobar, the theater's owner.
Among the bricks and rubble, Escobar said, contractors were found several items full of dirt and dustincluding umbrellas, hats, empty bottles, a worn shoebox and an old popcorn display.
“They were cautious when looking at things, almost like archaeologists or something,” Escobar said.
The room was once a closet in the manager's office, he said. There they found Culbreth's wallet, which Escobar said theater staff had likely hidden in the entertainment department. Lost items.
But over the years, as the theater changed hands and its space was renovated, the closet — along with the wallet — was surrounded by new walls, he said.
When the wallet was found on October 11, Escobar searched it wearing gloves. He pored over the contents: black-and-white photos, receipts, Chevrolet raffle tickets and credit cards for Rich's and Davison's department stores. There was also a 1958 dentist appointment card for Thea Culbreth.
“We opened it up and started to realize how full of history it was,” Escobar said.
At the time, I wasn't sure if I would ever give it back after 65 years. But it was part of a family's history in Atlanta, and I knew I wanted to at least give it a try.
That same day, he took the wallet home to show his wife, Nicole, who searched for Culbreth's name online. She found his obituary, then the Culbreth Cup website, which led her to Chamberlain's son Wes Jones' Facebook page.
Escobar messaged Jones, who responded shortly afterwards and set up a meeting.
Culbreth's family organized this year's Culbreth Cup, which took place in late October, and so planned to meet the following month.
Chamberlain, Jones and other family members gathered at the Plaza Theater November 19th as Escobar handed them the wallet he had previously cleaned.
“Oh my God,” Chamberlain said, holding the wallet in his hands. “This affects me more than I thought.”
At that moment, he told the Post, memories of his mother “came back.”
“She was there,” Chamberlain said. “I know it sounds a little silly, but I really was.”
He said the family plans Frame the contents of the walleta preservation of memories that they hope will not be lost again.
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