Sometimes You Recycle More Than You Mean To? by Lorna Van Straaten

Photo compliments of wesclark.com/Burbank  Burbankia by Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark

The story of how a donated cabinet and a long lost wallet led to a trip to 1949 Burbank, California!

"If you lost your wallet today, it would be like someone else finding it in the year 2075"

In early December of 2011 someone donated a black cabinet to the Re-Build-It Centre. The Re-Build-It or RBI is a sister store to the Re-Use-It Centre and features good quality building supplies, appliances and furniture. Staff noticed a sound of thudding from a hidden drawer and when they pried it open they found an old wallet, a wrench and a screwdriver. In that wallet was all the normal documents that tell a person who they are, the latest date on a receipt was 1949. Who owned the cabinet in 1949 and how did it get to Whistler from Burbank, California?

Photo compliments of wesclark.com/Burbank  Burbankia by Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark

Sixty three years ago Harry S. Truman is president of the United States. South Africa has just institutionalized apartheid. A first class stamp costs .03 cents. Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a hit and is played on 45 records. One of the top movies is 'Sands of Iwo Jima'.  By 1949 the second world war has been over for 4 years and the baby boom has just added 32 million 'Boomer' babies to the world population. In Burbank, California the first 'Big Bob' restaurant is built and immediately is referenced as a true landmark of the community. The Burbank studios are off the ground but the big employer is still Lockheed Aviation. Automobile sales, aviation and electronics are booming, as are housing sales. And in 1949 Burbank experiences their first ever snowfall.

Photo compliments of wesclark.com/Burbank  Burbankia by Mike McDaniel and Wes Clark

In 1949 Donald Milford Townsend lives at 828 East Fairmont Road in Burbank, California. He is 38 years old and has three kids, Marolyn, Carolyn and Dale. He and his wife Frieda are renovating their 8 year old home. He comes on one day after work and leaves his wallet sitting on the new cabinet. Frieda is tidying up, she throws Donald's wallet along with a wrench and a screwdriver into the secret drawer of the cabinet, putting them out of sight. Unfortunately, she does not recall doing this and the wallet now stays 'safe' for the next 63 years! *

Frieda with Marolyn, Carolyn and Dale in 1946

                                               

The items in the old wallet found at the Re-Build-It Centre paint a clear picture of what life is like in 1949 Burbank. Donald has just paid $10 to get his 1948 tax return done. Obviously working on the new house, he has been to 'Walls Distinctive Paints', A Valley Furniture Outlet, 'Duratile' and a re-upholster for their furniture. He has bought two new modern; pieces of furniture, 'Obsolete' cabinets costing $10 each. On January 10th, 1949 he pays the municipal court of LA $1 for a driving infraction; he had turned left from an outside lane and gone to court to fight it, but lost.

       

Donald is an electricians helper, a member in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and along with that membership card carries a blood donor card at all times. He works for Burbank City and makes $281.60 a month. In the wallet is his social security card. He also has a paper credit card for the Tide Water Associated Oil Company and one for 76 Union Oil. In his wallet is about $2 in change including a 1942 silver half dollar, now valued at about $7 because of the silver content.

     

Donald passes away in 2005 at the age of 91 and is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. He dies never knowing what happened to his wallet all those years ago. The family home is sold after Frieda dies in 2007 and it is a calculated guess that it is at this time that some or all the furniture in the home is sold or given to family members.Somehow at this point it makes its way to Whistler, BC Canada.

This week, the wallet is finally going home. After its long trip through time it has not been easy to contact family still alive. After many attempt to contact Donald's children, a cousin is receiving the wallet as she is the only one who responds to emails.

The story of how this cabinet made its way to Whistler is still with the person who originally donated the furniture to the Re-Build-It Centre. The donor is encouraged to contact lorna@mywcss.org so this part of the story can be told. In the meantime, we look at each old piece of furniture donated to the Re-Build-It Centre with fresh eyes, wondering what story it also has to tell.

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*author's license (it is one way the wallet could have been lost)
**Big Boy pictures and city hall snow 1949 used with permission of www.wesclark.com/Burbank See Burbankia by Wes Clark and Mike McDaniel for many wonderful old pictures of the area.
Other photos by Lorna Van Straaten