Woman Returns Husband to Wal-Mart

Julia Foster bought a photo album at a Texas Wal-Mart, and found inside a photograph of a young man. Three clues to his identity were written on the back: "Robert," "19" and "1945." An article about the discovery in The Brenham Banner-Press turned up 81-year-old Robert Wellmann.

Wellmann’s wife, Selma (Loesch), was the initial purchaser, but returned it “as not quite what she wanted,” according to an amazingly young-looking Wellmann, who retrieved his photo at The Banner early today.

At the time his wife returned the album, neither she or her husband realized a photograph of Robert — single and age 19 at the time of the 1945 black-and-white portrait — had been left inside one of its pages. [Link]

How Do You Say 'Watch for Falling Prices'?

The admissions policy of the AhNiYvWiYa tribe—a group that wants only "to be left in peace and granted 501c(3) status as a not-for-profit group"—is more flexible than those of other American Indian tribes. In fact, I think I might fill out an application.

"We do not look at a quantum of blood," said White Eagle of his tribal requirements.

"Most people will not be able to find documentation, so we ask people to trace any family history they can. Through our spiritual ceremonies, they will be shown. What we ask of people is that they're willing to learn language and want to be part of our true culture," White Eagle said.

The AhNiYvWiYa language is taught with the help of confused Wal-Mart employees.

The class is still learning the fundamentals, but in later weeks they will make a trip to Wal-Mart, where only AhNiYvWiYa will be used while shopping for produce and appliances.

"People are going to look at us like we're crazy," joked White Eagle. [Link]

Woman Picks Up an Heirloom at Wal-Mart

Abraham and Carol Kershaw of Elgin, Ill., are trying to find a lost family heirloom. Abraham's walking stick had been passed down in the Kershaw family for four generations, but some Bad Samaritan drove off with it last month.

While at Wal-Mart in Denison, they left Abraham's walking stick in a shopping cart. Once they realized that, they rushed back to the store, but the parking lot attendant told them a woman had driven by while he was gathering carts and said it was her walking stick.

"The funny thing about is this that we left the cane in the cart, and the parking lot attendant was going to head inside to put it in the lost and found when a woman drove by and said it was hers," Carol Kershaw said when called by the newspaper. She added there was no way the parking lot attendant could have known that it wasn't the woman's cane. [Link]

Focus on the First Families

Sure, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have their own libraries and museums, but what about Billy Carter and Roger Clinton? Nicholas Inman—a 24-year-old Wal-Mart greeter who lives with his mother in Marshfield, Missouri—wants to open a museum devoted to our former First Families and their descendants.

He expects the displays to include photos, White House Christmas cards, personal letters, invitations to inaugurations, books and perhaps items owned or even worn by presidents and their families. Many of the items will be from Inman's personal collection.

Inman rounded up descendants of 26 U.S. presidents and in April brought them to Marshfield, where they announced the launch of the museum.

He isn't sure where the museum will be, though he has narrowed it to a building in the town square and the unused second floor of the old high school. [Link]

Given Inman's other accomplishments, I'm betting he'll succeed.

[tagged: genealogy, family tree, ancestry]

More Victims of Falling Prices

From the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch:

Unmarked cemetery found near Wal-Mart

Associated Press

Dec 7, 2005

CULPEPER, Va. - Five years ago, the skeletal remains of Virginia Supreme Court Justice John Williams Green were dug up and re-interred to make way for progress.

Now at least 32 unmarked graves have been discovered in the same area, and they too may have to move for the same reason.

The remains are in a muddy cemetery on the future site of Kohl's of Culpeper and next to a Wal-Mart parking lot. Archaeologists say the remains are located within what is known as the Green-Williams family cemetery.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]