It has been hot here in the New York office of Guideposts these last few days (our air conditioning was on the fritz yesterday), but that hasn’t stopped me from finding some great Mysterious Ways stories to share from news around the country this week.
Meant to Be
Nancy Hellmuth of Washington, D.C., was doing some fall cleaning when she discovered an old newspaper clipping hidden away in her closet. It was her engagement announcement from the Sunday New York Times, May 2, 1982. Nancy was about to put it away again when she did a double-take. That photo of the woman next to her looked familiar. The paper said that Fleur Marks was marrying William Dodge Rueckert.
Fleur Rueckert! The mother of the boy that her daughter, Grayson, was dating, Clevelend Rueckert. The couple had met at the University of Vermont.
Nancy sent a letter to Fleur with a copy of the announcement. Both women marvelled at the incredible coincidence.
Last week, Nancy and Fleur were side by side once again … at the wedding of their children.
Lost and Found
Steve and Shannon Callahan of Sacramento, California, bought a used car at a Sacramento dealership. Then one day, Steve’s cell phone dropped in between the seats. Steve and Shannon both wedged their arms in between, reaching down as far as they could. Steve found his cell, and Shannon found … a 14 karat white gold and diamond wedding ring.
That sent the couple on a quest to find the owner. They traced the origin of the car to Texas, but announcements they placed in the paper there received no responses. Finally, the Sacramento Bee did some digging of its own, and using the vehicle’s VIN number, they were able to locate the most recent owner, Darlene King, who lived practically in the Callahans’ back yard.
The ring had belonged to her husband, Thomas, who had recently passed away. He had lost the ring years ago, and they’d both given up hope of ever finding it. Now his ring had made it home, against all odds, thanks to a fallen cell phone and, perhaps, more …
It was “a gift,” Darlene told the Sacramento Bee, from Thomas.
Twice as Nice
Finally, it’s been said that maybe anyone can find themselves in the right place at the right time to be a hero at least once in their lives. But Virginia resident Gus Hertz was in the right place twice … in two days … hundreds of miles from home, on vacation in St. Petersburg, Florida. Was he lucky? Or was something more at work? The mayor says he didn’t want Gus to leave town.
Have you seen a Mysterious Ways story in your local news? Send it to us! And as always, we love to read the stories you send about your own incredibly unlikely, incredible comforting, incredibly amazing experiences. Check out the ones we’ve included in our new Mysterious Ways magazine!
