Imagine losing your most prized possession. That one item that means the world to you--and is impossible to replace.
For John Ohler, that item is his cane. And for the last two weeks-- he worried that it might be gone forever.
For the 88-year-old, the hand-carved cane is much more than a walking aid.
It tells his life story.
The Air Force veteran found the wood for the cane outside a cabin he and his wife owned back in the '70s. Over the years he carved it with important life details.
Two weeks ago, Ohler accidentally left the cane in his shopping cart at a Valparaiso grocery store.
"It was raining, really, really raining," his wife Marilyn remembered.
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He rushed back to the store--but his beloved cane was gone.
He was devastated and grumpy, morose, sad, when he didn't have it," she said.
The 91-year-old got the idea to call the local newspaper.
A front page story caught the attention of the woman who found the cane.
"The lady who had cane didn't read paper but saw the headline," Marilyn said.
John got his cane back late Friday afternoon.
"I was tickled to death of course," he said.
It's just one of many canes he's made over the years, but he says this one is special.
"I spent a lot of time on it," he said. "It's very sentimental."
The woman who found the cane refused to take the reward the Ohlers were offering, instead telling them, she was just glad to get it back to its rightful owner.
