Community Corner

Mystery Solved: Mementos Found in Laguna Beach Man's Home Returned

For 12 years, Tom Valter had been trying to track down the owner of a box he found while remodeling his house.

In March, we while remodeling his Laguna Beach home.

In the box were personal papers and photos belonging to one John I. Taylor. Valter had been looking to return the box and its contents to Taylor, or one of his relatives, ever since.

Now that relative, as well as a back story, has been found.

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When the story aired on KCBS, it caught the attention of genealogist Mickie Watson, who researched it up.

Watson learned that Taylor died in 1991. But she also found a Taylor nephew, Larry Busby. From the KCBS story:

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“Uncle John was like a big kid, he was always there with us,” says Busby.

But through the years, Busby said he’d lost touch with his uncle and never knew the box of memorabilia existed. Until now.

Of the rusty box he says, “It brings back a flood of memories.”

For Watson, finding Busby wasn’t enough. She wanted to also know how the box ended up in Valter’s house.

Valter says the story couldn’t have had a better ending. “This is exactly what I wanted to see. That it was handed over to somebody who cared about this.”

So, a happy ending. Click here to watch the KCBS report from March.


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