Penticton man finds lost wallet from 1964, gets it back in hands of family matriarch

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The Desfosses's family came out from Sherwood Park, Alberta to reclaim the lost wallet

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A lost wallet from 60 years ago was uncovered by a Penticton construction worker and returned to the family on Thursday, thanks to his dedication in getting it back home.

Scott Walls works for Grizzly Excavating Ltd. and was on a project on Main Street and Gault near Habitat for Humanity when he said workers came across an old wallet a few weeks back.

"We were installing water pipe and as we were digging, I noticed a leather wallet and there's a card in there," he said. "You can see the red from the credit card that kind of stuck out to me, it didn't look like a rock. So I was like, 'Oh, hold on a second.'"

After grabbing a shovel and digging it up, Walls said he saw the name Roger Desfosses stamped inside with a company credit card for Arthur A Voice Construction.

Walls posted to social media, hoping to find out if anybody knew the name or family. Eventually, he got in contact with Desfosses' son.

"They told me Roger's wife is still alive. She's 90. Her name's Giselle and she wanted to come to Penticton and meet me and see where we found the wallet," he said, adding that he had seen an obituary that said Roger had passed in 2020.

Walls said he expected to just send the wallet back in the mail since the family was in Sherwood Park, Alta., but was pleasantly surprised they wanted to make a family trip out of it.

The whole family, including Giselle, her son, his grandson and wife, along with the three great-grandchildren all piled in their car to make the trip.

Turns out Giselle and Roger had come to Penticton in 1963 October for work for a few months doing civil construction. They left in July, which is when it was likely lost.

Walls said the wallet's been sitting three and half feet under Skaha Lake Road for decades, and perhaps him finding it was a way for Roger to say hello.

"I find stuff all the time, right? Bottles, all sorts of artifacts, knickknacks, but nothing that's had anything personal to it. So i thought maybe this is somebody," he added.

"I just did it out of the kindness of my heart, honestly. Just wanted to see if it was somebody's and if there was a way I could get it back to them and it ended up being a cool little story."

There were many hugs and stories shared that day, with Giselle expressing gratitude and emotion on seeing her late husband's wallet.

In sharing the story, Walls said he hopes it'll encourage more people to act with kindness.