'The beginning of the work for us': Cambridge church gets answers to whereabouts of missing journal
CBC
Volunteers at Central Church in Cambridge have pieced together most of the mystery behind what happened to a journal written by the church's first minister, after tracking down the "mystery woman" who returned it.
The story behind the missing journal started when a woman called the church on Oct. 7 saying she had found an old book that she believed belonged to the church.
Volunteer Ingrid Talpak called her "the mystery woman" who dropped off the journal after finding it in a Value Village in London, Ont., volunteers thought at the time.
Talpak was one of the first people to see the journal. She found out later it was actually found in a Value Village in Leamington, Ont. And the mystery woman was named Tracy Medel, who lives near the area.
Medel had left her name with the receptionist, and from there Talpak was able to track her down. When Talpak spoke to Medel, she said all she could do was "gush over and over again" in gratitude for returning the journal.
"I'm glad she recognized how precious it was and she realized it should go back home to the church," Talpak told CBC News.
"That was the only thing I could say over and over again was, 'Thank you so much for returning this home.'"
Medel said she returned the journal while making a stop in Cambridge during her time off. Medel said it was important to return a piece of history to where it belongs.
"I didn't do it for kudos, I just did it to make sure that it was where it was supposed to be and will be for the rest of it's remaining time on this earth," Medel told CBC News.
The journal was written by Rev. James Dickson, who helped build the church and served as it's first minister from 1880 to 1914. The journal is filled with pictures, newspaper clippings and his thoughts.
He wrote about his journey to Canada from Scotland and wrote extensively about daily life in Galt.
At the time, the only information Talpak had about where the journal could have been was from a letter found inside written on Oct. 11, 1979 by a Mrs. Alex Douma, saying the journal was on loan to a regional collection for microfilming in Woodslee, Ont.
Talpak said at the time she could not find any information on Mrs. Alex Douma until her son, Jay Douma, reached out to the church.
"We had a lovely phone call, where he told me a lot of fun things about his family," Talpak said.
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