Well, I agree that the sentence scans better without the “most of,” but I meant my post to argue that if you leave “most of” in, you need the other “of” before it, because each “of” is linking to a different object.
I stand behind “of most of which” technically, but it is rather clumsy.
I have a suggestion for what to do with the wallet if you never find the owner. Donate it to your local museum or historical society. Write a little note explaining where you found it and what you discovered during your search. It’ll be kind of neat for them to have an intact men’s wallet from that time period (something that is rare for obvious reasons) and your story of finding it makes it even cooler.
Generally, when property is given to a museum it’s signed over irrevocably, but in this case, they might accept a provision that if the owner is ever located, that it would be returned to him.
At this point, I again recommend the Social Security Administration’s letter forwarding service. Although they say they will perform this service only “under circumstances involving a matter of great importance,” my experience is that they are more lenient in practice.
“This is the sort of errant pedantry up with which I will not put!” - Winston Churchill
Good job, filmyak! Thanks for trying.
LOL… didn’t expect a hijack, but the thread has slowed a bit. Bottom line, this re-kindled friendship is bringing back amazingly vivid memories of youth we both thought was long-forgotten, and probably would have been without filmyak’s persistence.
Glad the thread has had positive, if unintended, consequences.
I think the social security letter forwarding service is worth a try. shrug Not a single newspaper or TV news station has responded to me. Not that I’ve contacted huge amounts, but I’ve informed a few of them.
Anyone know any police in Long Beach, CA? COntacting them without a friend in the dept will probably be a waste. Clearly this is low priority. But if someone knows someone…
Otherwise I’ll write the letter forwarding service and may well give up after that. This guy seems to have no immediate family, no accessible phone number, no list of places to get in touch with him, and the hunt is getting old. Especially with stakes this low. =)
But I’ll write that letter and we’ll see what becomes of it!
Been minorly aware of this thread, but hadn’t followed it in some time. I didn’t know we had a name and an old address now.
so I go to Google and type in “White Pages”.
The first sponsored link takes me to People Search:
I type in Donald Eugene Ivens and get a couple of entries for Donald E Ivens, one of whom is listed as being 84.
The other one yields:
2 Addresses in MECCA, CA
1 Address in EHRENBERG, AZ
1 Address in BELL GARDENS, CA
1 Address in BELL, CA
And you can get a complete background check for only $49.95!
People Search is powered by WhitePages.com, and as far as I can tell, so is every single other online white pages, including AT&T’s.
Bell and Bell Gardens are within spitting distance of where I sit right now, but there’s no Donald Ivens in my local White Pages.
Mecca is in Riverside County.
Sounds to me like he retired to Arizona
Thanks but — been there, done that.
Yeah we’ve seen all those cities, but have a more recent address in Long Beach. Sent a letter, got no response.
That’ll teach me to read before posting.
I don’t want to go back and read the whole thread, but didn’t you find a phone number that might belong to his son or something?
Sorry, Scott. Wasn’t being a smartass. Just a little bummed. =)
Midnight – unless I missed something, all the phone numbers we had & tried were dead ends.
What about contacting the police in the cities that you suspect this guy may be living in and telling your tale and want to reconnect the man with his wallet?
Just a thought.
No harm no foul.
You know who wants to know about this story? Primetime Live. They’ve been doing tons of stories relating to the concept of six degrees of separation.
Anyway, I’m going to Long Beach tonight, so if I bump into Don, I’ll let him know you’re looking for him.
Unless this 75 year old man has had a brush with the law recently, why would the police have his current address? He appears to have moved several times within the last few years.
Back from Long Beach, no Don, sorry.
I will not rest until this thread has found the owner!
Had to go to the Hollywood Police Station today – wife’s car was broken into, needed to file a report – and low and behold, the officer who filled out the report form had his name tag on, and it read: Ivens.
Same spelling and everything!
He isn’t aware of a relative with the same name, but told me to bring the wallet by and he’d use the info to run a check. I’ll try to do it tomorrow, otherwise may have to wait until next weekend.
No.
Frakking.
Way.
Sorry about your wife’s car, but day-um!
Has anyone mentioned lately how cool this all is?
Great to know that such a promising avenue has surfaced so unexpectedly.