Less than a week after the discovery of a half-century old wallet in a Tanunda woman’s ceiling was reported by The Leader (55 year old wallet discovered in Tanunda ceiling, October 20), its rightful owner has been located.
A grateful Robert King, who still lives in Tanunda, recounted the moment he heard his old wallet had been handed over to the Tanunda RSL by Erin Jones.
“I nearly fell off my chair!” the 75 year old exclaimed.
“As soon as I heard about it, I said to my wife, I know that wallet and I described it to her. It was light brown and rather large. I knew it straight away.
“I hadn’t missed it because I thought it was in a box somewhere!”
Robert and his wife, Gilda lived in the same Fiedler Street unit as Erin Jones, between 2008 and 2013.
“The wallet came to be in the ceiling because I must have put it there in a box when we moved in, and not realised it was still there when we left,” explained Robert.
Much of the memorabilia inside the wallet dates to a time period when Robert was working in aircraft electronics for the Royal Air Force.
He joined at the age of 15 and a half, and went to the RAF College of Technical Training in Cosford, England.
In 1964 he joined the 19th Fighter Squadron, where he was posted to Cypress on two occasions, as well as Gütersloh in Germany, where he spent about three years.
Robert left the air force in 1974, and was thrilled to be re-united last week with so many precious memories of that time.
“It was good, because it conjured up memories from the past that I’d forgotten all about,” he said.
“To see all the air show tickets from when I went to Hanover Air Show and a few other air shows, I’d just forgotten all about that so it was really exciting to see it.
“There was also a letter from my mother, Connie in there. She’s still alive, she’s 97 and lives in Gawler.”
As for the photo which was printed in last week’s edition of The Leader, Robert chuckles that he was mistaken when he thought the gentleman with the guitar was himself.
“When Trevor Klose (Tanunda RSL President) told me, I said that will be me and my guitar and I’ve still got the same guitar and I’m still playing, but I was wrong, it was my brother, Terry!”
Robert immigrated to Australia in 1976, following in the footsteps of his mother and Terry who were already in Adelaide.
In 1982 he met Gilda.
“And we’re still sharing a beautiful life together,” Robert added.
It was work that eventually brought the couple to the Barossa in 2008, with Robert by that time working in nursing in Gawler and the northern suburbs.
Happily retired now, this great-grandfather is grateful that Erin took the time to find the wallet’s owner, and for the community’s interest in the story.
“I think it was a lovely thing for her to do,” he said.
“A lot of people probably would have just put it in the bin, but I think she realised it would have been quite precious to someone, and she was dead right.”
