South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Oakville couple gave him ride, but got a camera. Now he lives here.

Letters+to+the+editor

To the editor:

Years ago in Northern Arkansas, I left my camera on the backseat of the car of a nice couple from Oakville who gave me and another fellow a 10-mile ride from the Kyles Landing or Steel Creek Campground on the Buffalo River up through the small town of Ponca to the Centerpoint Trailhead where my car was parked.

Back then I lived in O’Fallon, Missouri, and had no idea where Oakville was.  I couldn’t find it on any Missouri state map, so I thought it might be a big subdivision development somewhere.      

I don’t care about the camera. I hope the couple — who may have agonized for several hours or days about how to find me — are still using it, or gave it to one of their children or friends.

My  hope  is that if they, like me, believe in  miracles,  they might have saved the small postage-stamp-size memory disk which has hundreds or a couple thousand photos which I would really love to have.

My other hope is that if the couple has since moved hundreds or thousands of miles away, some of their friends or relatives who read the Oakville Call might remember that the couple  did  visit the Buffalo River in Northern Arkansas and will forward this letter to them.

Even if the couple didn’t find or use my camera or keep the card,  I’d still like to tell them “hello” and thanks again for the ride…… 

And here’s a recent miracle God bestowed on me and my first girlfriend, from 1959. First was the fact that she didn’t marry someone named “Smith” or “Jones.”

Next was that an unexpected invitation to attend an event scheduled by an organization I joined several decades earlier arrived a couple years after my girlfriend’s husband died and six years after my wife died.     

I got to thinking that something I might have given my girlfriend in 1960 might help me reconnect with some friends who might still be living and coming to the event. After a little research and a couple local phone calls, I located my girlfriend in Oakville. She had a listed number.   

So, I called to ask if she might still have the gift I gave her almost six decades ago… No, she didn’t have or remember the item, but yes, she would like to see me again and attend the event…..  And several months later, she agreed to marry me.

David Malan

Oakville

More to Discover