Found!

Early in 1975, a woman named Colleen Distin went to a movie theatre in Ventura, California, as thousands of people did.

But Ms Distin put her purse on the floor of the theatre while she enjoyed the feature, which might have been "Jaws," or "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," or "Shampoo," or "Dog Day Afternoon," all popular cinematic fare during the early days of the Ford Administration.

And as she left the theatre to go grab a bite to eat, or go home to watch "Welcome Back, Kotter," or stop by a bookstore to get a copy of "Angels: God's Secret Agents" by Billy Graham, "Winning Through Intimidation" by Robert Ringer, "TM: Discovering Energy and Overcoming Stress" by Harold H. Bloomfield, "The Ascent of Man" by Jacob Bronowski or "Sylvia Porter's Money Book." by Sylvia Porter, her wallet fell through a hole in the purse.

She called the theatre the next day to report the missing billfold, but no one had turned it in. She lost a check for $200, family photos, a 1973 Grateful Dead concert ticket stub, and her California driver's license.

Tom Stevens is a man employed in 2021 to renovate the old theatre, and he was digging underneath floorboards when he found the old red leather wallet.

He went on the theater's social media to find Ms Distin: “Does anyone know Colleen Distin? While doing some maintenance we have found her wallet. There are a bunch of pictures of people, and they are super cool from that era also. Someone may want them. So if you are, or if you know Colleen, drop us a line and we will have it here for you!”

Loanne Wullaert is Stevens's boss. It was her idea to use Facebook to find the owner, and she was pleased at the crowd size the post reached. “We’re at almost 1,000 shares, a ridiculous amount of comments and then it went to all these other sites. I think it’s cool that people care and are interested.”

And at that, it only took two hours after that post for people to contact Ms Distin and tell her about it. She is a lifelong Ventura resident, and she went to the theatre to retrieve her stuff, saying it was like "opening a time capsule.”

“I'm shaking," Distin told news station KCAL-TV as she went through the wallet. It contained poetry and notes, photographs of high school friends, the $5 ticket to a Grateful Dead concert at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and photos of her mother, who died several years ago. “It's really wonderful."

At first, she was reticent about discussing the lost-and-found, but felt the positive experience was worth sharing.

“It says a lot about our society, that people are looking for a human story and something to feel good. People need to see the gratitude. I think there’s so much other negative stuff that I think this is what touched people.”

Anyone wishing to view the contents of my 1975 wallet can just examine what's in the 2021 version. I just put the old junk in a new billfold and carry on. Wallets come and go, but my coupons for PayLess shoes, Radio Shack, and Toys "R" Us will be worth something again someday!