Stolen Wallet Found 56 Years After Boston Theft

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LEWISTON - Val Gregoire's widow and children all knew the story: On a day in 1951, Val was hit over the head in Boston and woke without his wallet or his pants.

Now, they have proof. His wallet has returned.

On April 11 - 56 years to the day after Gregoire lost it - the wallet was discovered by a demolition worker at Boston's Paramount Theatre.

"I was stunned," said Jeannette Gregoire, 75, of Lewiston, after receiving a call from the worker's wife, Kathy Bagen. "How could this have survived?"

More than a dozen photos, a copy of Val's Augusta birth certificate and a pair of identification cards seemed preserved inside the Boston landmark.

Richard Bagen of East Weymouth, Mass., was tearing down a wall when the wallet spilled out, said his wife. He brought it home, and she insisted on finding the owner.

The wallet had disintegrated, but the contents were still perfectly readable. One of the IDs, the Armed Forces Liberty Pass, was dated, "April 11, 1951." That was the same day it was found.

"The date was what freaked me out," Kathy Bagen said. "Maybe it was meant to be found."

Bagen searched the Internet and started calling Gregoires in Maine. One family suggested calling Lewiston and soon she called Jeannette.

"At first, I thought she was a solicitor," Jeannette said. Then, she recalled the mugging story. Last week, she received Bagen's envelope with the contents.

"Course, there was no money," she said.

18-year-old sailor

There were several pictures of Val, an 18-year-old Navy sailor at the time. There were images of his mom, friends and a laminated photo of Jeannette, then his best girl.

But there also were two pictures - seemingly taken from a photo booth - of Val and another girl.

"Mine was laminated," Jeannette said of her photo, a pretty young girl in pearls. "Maybe that meant something."

Not that she has worried about the other face in the photos.

When Val died in 2003, following complications due to a kidney transplant, they were just six months shy of their 50th wedding anniversary.

On Monday, Jeannette cherished the mementos from her late husband, a Lewiston firefighter best known in the area as the namesake for Val's Root Beer, a drive-in burger spot on Sabattus Street.

"If he were here, he'd have a lot to say," said his daughter, Gail Lawrence. "He was a storyteller."

The story about the day he lost the wallet is part of family legend, something he would describe to all five of the couple's children.

Jeannette remembered the day, too.

She recalled getting into an old car and heading down to Boston with her mother for a visit with her beau.

Val was serving aboard the cruiser USS Macon, which was tied up in Boston Harbor. The couple spent the day together. They said goodbye while there was still daylight. Then, Jeannette and her mom headed home.

As the story goes, somebody slugged Val a short time later. When he woke, his pants and his wallet were gone.

Why did they take his pants, too?

"He was wearing those sailor bell-bottoms," Jeannette said. "Maybe they liked the buttons."

It left him a bit exposed as he tried to return to his ship.

"He tried to hide behind trees and telephone poles," Jeannette said.

When he finally reached his ship, he had trouble getting aboard without identification. A shipmate finally vouched for him, but the loss of the card still got him in trouble.

"He spent one night in the brig," Gail said.

Apparently, the Navy was strict about that stuff even then, she said.