- November 14, 2024
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For more than 20 years, George Tabeling and his wife would drive from Daytona Beach to the Dairy Queen on U.S. 1 in St. Augustine. They would meet their son, Richard and his daughter, Taylor, have ice cream and visit, and take Taylor home with them for a visit. A week later the trip would be taken again when Taylor would go home.
His wife died a few years ago, but recently Tabeling, now 93, took the trip on his own, paid for his ice cream, but forgot his wallet, with more than $400 in cash, on the counter.
Lisa Marie Massey of Palm Coast, the assistant manager at the Dairy Queen, saw the wallet after Tabeling had driven away. Massey has worked at the Dairy Queen for the past two years.
“At first I put it in the safe,” Massey said. “When he didn't come back, I went through the wallet to find a number, or something, to return it.”
Massey found two numbers, but neither worked. Then she found the name of a condominium and called the management office, who verified that Tabeling was a resident.
“We didn't know he had left his wallet behind until Lisa called,” his daughter Terri Winslow said. “That Diary Queen has always been a meeting place for our family.”
Winslow was impressed that Massey took the time to find Tabeling, and to be so honest to return the wallet.
“I was happy to get it back,” Tabeling said. “I am thankful that she (Massey) returned it.”
“Money is not everything that is in a wallet,” Winslow said. “There are other things that are hard to replace. I just wanted people to know what this woman did for my father."
Massey said she searched the wallet, only to find information that would help her return it to its owner.
“I didn't count the money,” Massey said. “It wasn't my wallet. It wasn't my money. I wasn't brought up that way.”
