Jane Williams has a renewed faith in the goodness of people after an unlikely event happened to her in Lake Cowichan on Jan. 29.
It was about 1:30 p.m. and just another day in the week. Williams was only a few steps from her home at Olson Manor, heading into town to do some shopping as she often did.
Williams was crossing the bridge on foot, when she stopped to do something.
“I don’t remember what, but I set my purse down on one of the posts on the bridge,” she recalled. “And then I walked away and left my purse there.”
Williams says she didn’t realize she no longer had her purse with her until she reached the stores. Then, thinking she must have left it at home, she made her way back, only to find that it wasn’t there.
“I walked home twice,” she said, convinced that she had left her purse at home, “because I didn’t believe I’d done it.”
At that point, Williams says she didn’t know where it was, only that it was gone.
“So I came home, and I phoned the RCMP and told them,” she explained. “I was quite traumatized. I don’t do stuff like that usually. I just wasn’t thinking.”
Not long after she reported the missing purse to the police, Williams says her phone rang.
“It was the Community Services telling me they had my purse,” she said. “Some gentleman had found my bag, taken it there and turned it in.”
To Williams’ surprise, not only was her purse returned, but her money was still in there. In fact everything was still there, in tact.
“I thought that that was the most awesome thing that I’d heard in a while,” she said gratefully. “I don’t know who the gentleman was, but he is a good samaritan, and I’d like to say a big, big thank you very much.
“It was lucky that he was the one there,” added Williams. “There still are some good people in this world.”