A Christmas Challenge (Completed! Vesta McCurry's WW1 love token is going home!)
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,216 ✭✭✭✭✭
So, how many of you were around for Operation Stone Holey ten years ago, when I sent two of our Florida members off on a harebrained live treasure hunt (actually a wild goose chase, as it turned out), to find a piece of Yap stone money that had once been partially buried in my grandmother's yard?
Who's sufficiently bored or enthusiastic enough to help me with another crazy quest? This one can be done in cyberspace, though we're looking for a person this time. There is still a coin involved.
You see, I am looking for a living descendant of a person who once owned a love token I have. It would be really cool to give one of those descendants a Christmas surprise, in the form of the coin their grandparent or great-grandparent once owned. IF such a descendant can be found.
What's in it for you, my super-sleuth friends? Why, the chance to become part of the story, of course! 
Forgive me for not posting the story in this thread. This current CU forum software and I have never gotten along.
With apologies, I will direct you to the full story on CoinTalk, to save myself the hassle of trying to repost it all here. Don't worry, though, I think it's a pretty good read, though not everyone will agree.
Maybe you can help me track down the person we need to give this coin to.
Edit- a descendant has been found and contacted! Yay!
Happy Holidays!
~RWS/"LM"
Comments
Great stuff as always, thanks for sharing!
OBITUARIES
Story last updated at 8:29 a.m. on Tuesday, December 28, 1999
Vivian Lewis Cumming
Vivian Pearman Lewis, 77, formerly of Hartwell, died Monday, Dec. 27, 1999.
Mrs. Lewis was the widow of James Stanley Lewis.
Services will be at 3 p.m. today in Northview Cemetery,
Hartwell, with the Rev. James Weathersby officiating.
Survivors include a daughter, Nancy L. Ferazzuolo, Cumming; a
son, Howard Stanley Lewis, Athens; and four grandchildren.
Strickland Funeral Home, Hartwell, has charge of arrangements.
Athens Daily News, Tuesday, Dec. 28, 1999
http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/clarke/obits/athensdailynews/1999/28dec99.txt
Elizabeth Lewis , 65
Suwanee, GA
Lived in: Pembroke Pines FL, Watkinsville GA, Athens GA Related to: Howard Stanley Lewis , Thomas Bruce Lewis , Debra Ann Lewis , Elizabeth A Lewis , John M Lewis , John Franklin Lewis , Kimberly S Lewis , Mark A Lewis , Jamie Lewis Saye , Judith Ann Lewis
https://www.mylife.com/elizabeth-lewis/cn/35
Thank you.
It sounds like one of these two are who need to be tracked down.
If not, then it's on to the next generation, I suppose.
Cool, thanks for the share
Learn how to buy gold with bitcoin
Best bitcoin exchange:
PAXFUL ○ COINMAMA ○ CEX.IO ○ COINBASE ○ CHANGELLY ○ LOCALBITCOINS
Nancy L Ferrazzuolo, age 65-70
Relatives Renee P Ferrazzuolo Richard A Ferrazzuolo
2610 Heatherwyn Way, Cumming, GA, 30040-7847
https://nuwber.com/person/563a4a38e0cd4806cb292d02
Same state as you LM
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
Yap money rocks.
.
.
.
.
...................sorry.
Yap money
.
.
.
.
..................the ultimate holey coin
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
CoinTalk banned me. Forever.
See, I asked the owner a question. I guess that's not allowed.
I agree..............and a very noble thing to do.
How did you come upon the token? The family could have disposed of it on purpose when the Estate was settled. That would have been a shame! I'm sure that token meant everything to the couple as a remembrance and keepsake.
........................if that is indeed how it got out into the wild.
At any rate, the members here have given you everything I could have put together.
This is a good story posted at the best time of year for it.
I wish you well, Holy One!
Pete
I wish you the very best of luck in this venture.
I’ve done this sort of thing three times with mixed results.
One person hung up on me when I tried to tell him I had 150 years worth of his family letters. Turned out there was a family rift, so I gave the documents to the Jefferson Co museum
Another time I gave a whole album of tintype photos to a direct descendant. She was indignant that I bought them from another line of the family that sold them.
But lastly, I returned a whole box of civil war letters to a 5x great grandson who happened to have been a history buff. The soldier was part of Avril’s raid, named Dawson. That man still sends me a card at Christmas.
I hope you find someone connected to it. And I hope they appreciate the effort. Regardless, the reward is in the challenge and knowing you did the right thing.
You got it, Dave. It IS a mixed bag of rewards.
Pete
@savoyspecial gave that to me about two years ago, so it spent some time in North Carolina.
Trish on CoinTalk has found contact information for Nancy Ferrazuolo, Howard and Vesta's granddaughter, who is apparently retired and living in Las Vegas with her husband. I might get that information and attempt contact soon.
Challenge completed!
I have had a pleasant phone conversation with Vesta and Howard's granddaughter, Nancy Ferrazuolo, and her husband Richard, and will be sending the coin to them.
They promised a photo of Nancy holding the coin, and Nancy said she would try to find some old pictures of her grandparents, though many of those have been distributed to other members of the family.
They asked me to thank Trish on Cointalk for helping with the legwork, and I would like to thank @yosclimber as well.
Looks like this story will have a happy ending! Perhaps I'll do a writeup for The Numismatist when the dust settles. (I promised @Mark an article, like forever ago, and haven't delivered yet.)
@lordmarcovan: PAY YOUR STORY DEBTS DARN YOU!!!
More seriously, this would be a great article. Think how fascinating the story will be if you get pictures of Mr. and Mrs. Pearman, especially, if they are pictures of them circa 1919. Maybe you can discover a bit of Mr. Pearman's military history, that is, what battle(s) was he in. Presumably there might be a family story or two that you can get from his family and weave into your article. Plus, of course, a picture of Mr. and Ms. Ferrazuolo holding the token would be very cool. Yeah, this would be a tremendous story, especially given your inimitable writing style!
PS: I think for the article you should keep your initial thread title, A Christmas Wedding. And see if The Numismatist can publish it next Christmas--that would be their 100th wedding anniversary!
Neither the Grinch, nor Scrooge stole THIS Christmas story.
Pete
@lordmarcovan ... Great story... fantastic that you were able to find the descendants...Got into this genealogy search about two years ago... My ancestry... Found out some things I never knew... I am not who I thought I was... Well.. too late to change...
Sure is interesting ... Cheers, RickO
Very cool story and gesture! Well done!!!
ANA LM
USAF Retired — 34 years of active military service! 🇺🇸
Now, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to some family photographs shared by her granddaughter and grandson-in-law, I am pleased to present to you...
Miss Vesta McCurry, the lady on the coin, circa 1918!
And, later in life, with her husband Howard G. Pearman, the man who had the coin inscribed to her in France, during the final year of World War I. (This picture taken before 1958).
Is this not fantastic? I certainly think so. Call me superstitious, but I like to imagine that maybe Vesta and Howard themselves might have even had a hand in this, and are smiling down from above.
Merry Christmas, everyone, and happy 99th wedding anniversary to Vesta and Howard!
Great thread, LM! I love exonumia. The research possibilities are endless, and this is a good example on how a 100 year old mystery can unravel right before your very eyes.
Excellent story
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Awesome CU detective work!
Happy Holidays to all!
And finally, here we have Nancy Ferrazzuolo, Vesta's granddaugher, holding Vesta and Howard's long-lost love token, which is now back in the family fold.
Doesn't get any better than this, folks. Thank you to @yosclimber and Trish on CoinTalk and everyone else who nudged me into starting this quest, and helping find the family connection.
(And to Randy Abercrombie on CoinTalk, for "buying me out", which obviously he didn't have to do.)
Saga successful.
That's a great story, with credit to everyone involved in bringing the coin's saga full circle! I'm sure this made for a very special Christmas for Howard and Vesta's family.
Very, very cool!
My YouTube Channel
In case no one reported it, here is a possibility.
Jim
When a man who is honestly mistaken hears the truth, he will either quit being mistaken or cease to be honest....Abraham Lincoln
Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.....Mark Twain
LOL
I put that in the very first post of the CT thread linked in the OP. That's only where the story began.
She looks thrilled and amazed. Congrats!
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars