With the help of an observant good Samaritan, the cancer memorial rock that disappeared from the front yard of a Vancouver home in November has been returned to its rightful owner.
Teresa Marble said Tuesday in a phone interview that the man who found the rock — a 20-pound stone brightly painted with multicolored ribbons and words memorializing cancer survivors and victims, which she won in an auction and fundraiser for the disease — delivered it to her home the night before.
“I was still optimistic about getting it back, but not too worried at this point,” Marble said. “But I’m thrilled to get it back.”
It was several days before Thanksgiving when Marble noticed the rock was missing. Someone had snatched the sentimental lawn decoration that cost Marble $20 at the Dance for a Cure event in Vancouver two years ago.
Mark Stanley said he was driving Sunday through an area of new development at Erickson Farms in Felida when he noticed a colored rock lying face-up next to a porta-potty at the front of a day care currently under construction.
“It caught my eye. I backed up, Googled the (newspaper) story, and sure enough, it was the rock,” Stanley said.
Not sure what to do at first, Stanley reached out to The Columbian. But he said he became worried that the rock would once again disappear and never be found. So he went and picked it up, and then got in touch with the owners.
Now, the remembrance rock is back home. The stone has lost a fair amount of its shiny coating and was cracked. Marble said she doesn’t plan to put the rock out for display anytime soon. The decision has more to do with the rainy weather than a fear it will get stolen a second time, she said.
When asked if she was satisfied with the outcome, and worried that the culprits may never be caught, Marble said, “I don’t care who stole it. What could possibly be done to punish a rock thief?”
