Hartselle man recovers family jewelry 30 years after its theft

After more than 30 years resting at the bottom of Lake Guntersville, priceless family heirlooms and jewelry have returned home to a Hartselle man. In a series of events that is nothing short of storybook tale, the items were recovered by divers who set out on a quest to return them to their owner.

Joseph Ward of Hartselle recalls the day the items were stolen from his and his wife Kathy’s home. At the time he was working on a home across the street from his and eventually noticed a red truck in his driveway. When he went to check on the home, the vehicle left, but he spotted the tag was a Guntersville plate. When he walked inside, he found his home had been burglarized, and much of the family jewelry had been stolen.

“They took pillowcases off the beds, and that’s what they took, was jewelry – We had beaucoups

of stuff plus (Kathy’s) mother’s jewelry,” Ward said.

Ward said about 70-80 pieces were taken from their home.

Pieces with sentimental in addition to monetary value were among the items stolen. Ward had worked in a jewelry store for many years before the robbery and had purchased his wife a charm bracelet. Every special occasion he would purchase a new charm and have it engraved. The bracelet, along with a baby bracelet one of his daughters had worn home from the hospital, were among some of the items that were stolen.

Out of all the items taken, he said the charm bracelet was one of the most missed. “All Kathy would bring up was that she wished she had her charm bracelet,” Ward said. Beyond the fiscal value, of course, the charms helped to tell their story, with charms that commemorated big moments like graduations and births.

Other stolen items included things like a Girl Scout pin from when Kathy was a girl and some of her family jewelry.

More than 30 years later, Nathan Brown and Jon Lee were diving in Lake Guntersville when they discovered a piece of cloth that had items in it. They brought the items to the surface and took them home to clean them.

June Reed, who has been dating Nathan for 10 years, said she knew when she saw the treasures from the bottom of the lake that they were something special.

“I got a five-gallon bucket and started rinsing everything – and this was hours of getting in there with a toothbrush,” Reed said. “I was like, you know, this is something. This isn’t just random stuff.

“I started noticing things that appeared to be oriental stuff,” she added. “There was a bracelet that had a child’s name on it. Then I found a lot of ‘to Kathy from Joe,’ and I realized ‘This is a man and his wife’s stuff.’”

Among the items were military tags from Ward’s time in the National Guard. It was only after Reed scrubbed the tags that she got her first lead on where the items belonged.

“I went on Facebook, and I was looking for a Joe or Kathy. I had their kids’ names because of the jewelry,” Reed said. “There was a couple that came up in Hollywood, Ala., but it wasn’t them.

“I started looking for the children then. There were some that was in Louisiana, but when I asked them if their mom and dad was Joe and Kathy Ward, nothing came up. I was determined that I wanted to find them,” Reed said.

Reed continued her search for the Wards on Facebook for about three weeks, but it wasn’t until her sister sent her Kathy’s obituary that she got her next clue. “It had where she attended church, so I called the church, and the lady answered and I was like, ‘OK, this is a crazy thing, but I just want to know if you can help me. I am looking for these people, and I saw that they attended church there. You don’t have to give me their contact info, but I will give you my contact info, and let them contact me,’” Reed said.

When Ward returned the call to Reed they quickly confirmed the items were his by his National Guard number on the military tags.

They set a date, and after three decades spent never expecting to see the items again, Ward was reunited with the priceless treasures.

“They are the sweetest people. It brought back memories – brought back memories for my girls, things they had when they were young,” Ward said. “Kathy was a Phi Mu at Athens and even had a Phi Mu charm on her bracelet; later Heather also became a Phi Mu.

“It was just part of history that was gone but came back.”