Great summary, I had forgotten about that.
I forwarded it to the staff writer at the Times. No guarantees they’ll do anything with this, but it’s something to hope for.
So nobody’s seen the follow up on this?
Somebody posted on the ancestry.com message boards about this, about 2 hours after filmyak’s last post on May 15. As it links back to the first thread, I gotta think it’s somebody here who posted.
It got a hit on August 28. The user richkath responded:
“Surprise, Surprise, Donald Eugene Ivens is my Uncle, who has been missing for years. My Dad will be interested in this story. My Uncle lived with his late wife, Evelyn in LAA. Co.
Near or around the old Rubber Tire factory off of Florence Ave… Maywood, Lynwood, & South LAA. Birth day . . Sept. 13, 1931 . . . KATh”
So is September 13 the correct birthday on the driver license?
The whole thread (all two posts) is right here: http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.ivens/125/mb.ashx
And there is an “Evelyn Ivens” listed in the California Death Index, dying in Los Angeles 04/03/1986. Possibly someone might dig up an obit???
Wow, great find! No, I hadn’t seen the follow-up at all, had no idea it was posted at ancestry.com!
I just sent the responder an email… the bday they posted is correct. I wonder when he went missing… same time the wallet did? In which case I’ll assume he’s buried under my house…?
OR years later, which I hope is the correct response…
PS - never heard back from the LA Times. So, if they contact me wanting this story now that Airblair has found a great link, they can run wild with my “no comment” response.
Just to help confirm that this has to be the guy, I can find a newspaper story from the New Castle Times¶ dated 22 January 1963 which was talking about the death, in California, of an elderly former resident of New Castle.
The deceased was a Mrs. James A.(Anna) Plum. Her two daughters were listed as
Thelma Lesher and Evelyn Ivens of 2710 E. 112th St. , Lynwood(CA.). That matches our Evelyn.
The LA Times has no obituary for Evelyn Ivens.
You’re just a big ol’ ray of sunshine, aren’tcha?
By the way, ages ago I scanned all the cards he had in his wallet. I’ve got the full version, and then a 2nd version where I redacted (so glad I got to learn that word 7 years ago) any potentially dangerous info (like his social security #).
I’m tempted to email them to someone who wants to host the images online, but now that we’ve found his nephew perhaps I should ask for permission first. Still waiting to hear back from him… but only been a few hours so far.
It may be his niece, rather than his nephew.
And, do you mean redacted?.
Yes, sorry that was just a typo.
As for nephew/niece… I realize my error in assuming it was a male, but why are you sure it’s a female?
Their user name on ancestry.com is RichKath.
I took it to mean Rich = first name, Kate = last name or part of last name. Or, it could be a combination of a couple… husband & wife?.. named Rich and Kathy. Or, I realize it can be Rich as an adjective to Kathy.
Or could have nothing to do with their name whatsoever. Like FilmYak.
I’ll wait to hear back from them.
Her name is Kathleen. I just snooped on ancestry more than you. It’s in my blood. 
I just fixed redacted for you. Hope you weren’t offended by that.
LOL. Good to know. And yes, I’m horribly offended!! GRRRR!
OK, it’s official.
I had a nice phone conversation with Kathleen, and the original quest has been completed. I am sending the wallet to her, as she is Mr. Ivens’ nephew. The Straight Dope search has been on from Jan 11, 2007 to Sep 28, 2008. It was a long way to go to “solve” the mystery.
Except that, in reality, the mystery has deepened considerably. Donald Eugene Ivens vanished in approximately 1976, no one has heard from him since. Kathleen’s father (Donald’s brother) has asked her to continue searching for him. She’s been going online and looking every 3 months or so, with no luck.
She may have tracked down his step-children, but has not made contact with them yet.
Now far as I can tell, the wallet contents date to 1973, three full years before he vanished. Which means he either had a very out of date wallet, or more likely he is not buried under my garage. A thought which makes me very happy.
I’ve sent Kathleen the links to the original thread here, as well as this follow-up thread, and I hope once she has time to read it all she is willing to add a post of her own and let us know any additional details she’d like to share. She seems like a very nice lady, and I wish her the absolute best of luck in tracking down her uncle.
One more thing I forgot to mention – they don’t believe he ever worked in construction. So I’m really more confused than ever as to how his wallet ended up behind the drywall of my garage.
His paycheck stubs are from a company with the initials ADP – no idea what that is though.
I forgot to ask Kathleen for permission to post the scanned images online. Will do so tonight, maybe there will be a clue there that can lead another Doper in an untried direction.
Probably Automatic Data Processing Inc, a payroll company (among other things).
Once Kathleen receives the wallet and has his Social Security number (if she didn’t previously have it) she might want to try getting in touch with the Social Security Administration and see how much information they can give her, allowing for Privacy Act restrictions.
Good idea, but she has the social security number, has been in touch with the SSA already. Also has his birth certificate and several other documents. That’s why I’m hoping she posts soon so she can update us herself.
And good thoughts on the payroll company possibility…
How very cool! Congratulations - job well done!
Wow! Excellent stuff.
Wow. I followed since the first post. I’d really thought by this time, the mystery would’ve remained just that. I hope this opens new doors for Kathleen and her family to find out what happened to her uncle. And I have so say, I’m incredibly curious how his wallet got behind the wall in your garage. I forget, did you ever establish if he ever lived there, or perhaps he knew people who did?
Also, how strange his wallet was seemingly hidden, and it happened to belong to a missing person. Can’t help but think there’s a real connection there.