Retiree finds and returns wallet containing $1,600

Credit: Photo contributed | Valdese Police Department

Terry Shook, left, and John Hoffman, along with granddaughter Tatum Witherspoon, 4, meet on Monday at the Valdese Police Department. Hoffman found Shook's wallet on Interstate 40 on Monday, two months after it went missing.

By: Sharon McBrayer | Morganton News Herald
Published: January 11, 2010

Morganton --

Terry Shook searched high and low for his wallet after he realized it was missing two months ago, even hiring a diver to search Lake Hickory.
The one place he didn't look, though, was the shoulder of Interstate 40.
That's where John Hoffman found Shook's wallet on Monday.
The wallet not only contained credit cards and photos; it still held more than $1,600.
Hoffman was traveling along I-40 Monday morning when some paper in the bed of his pickup flew out. He quickly stopped along the westbound lane of I-40 between the exit for U.S. 321 and the Long View exit.
When Hoffman, 69, walked around the back of his truck he saw a frozen, dirty wallet. It was partially open so he picked it up and noticed a driver's license and cash. A lot of cash.
Hoffman said he thought, "If I had lost that kind of money I would certainly be looking for it."
Hoffman, who retired from the U.S. Air Force as a security policeman, copied a name and address he found inside the wallet and tried to call a number on a business card, but had no luck.
So Hoffman, who lives in Valdese, took the wallet to the Valdese Police Department.
He said he could have used that kind of money, but he never thought of keeping it because it wasn't his.
"That man might have needed that money more than I did," Hoffman said.
That's an understatement, according to the man who lost the wallet.
Shook said recovering his wallet and the money came at a perfect time. Shook owns a small roofing business. Business is down and bills are coming due, he said.
Just before Shook lost his wallet he had cashed a check for a roofing job. He was going to pay his workers with the money.
But Shook, who lives in Hickory, had to run to Icard to put a tarp over a leaking roof until he could repair it. He then went to Lake Hickory to put a roof on a boathouse. It wasn't until that night when he noticed his wallet missing.
Shook said he searched his yard with a flashlight, searched his van and even called out a diver the next day to search the lake where he worked on the boathouse, but didn't have any luck.
How his wallet ended up on the side of I-40 is a mystery, Shook said.
"How it got on interstate I have no idea," he said. "but I didn't quit praising the Lord."
When he got the call on Monday from Valdese police, Shook said he thought "there's no way all that money would still be in the wallet."
"It's just hard to believe," he said, "but, there again, there are some good people out there."
Shook, 53, also believes losing the money was a test from God.
"It broke me," Shook said. "It broke me when I lost that money."
Shook said he is a recovering alcoholic who has been clean for a year and started going to church again. When he lost his wallet, he said he kept going and had the faith that God would take care of him. Hoffman's finding the wallet, Shook believes, was proof that God was looking out for him.
Shook and Hoffman met at the Valdese Police Department after lunch Monday.
As a sign of gratitude, Shook offered Hoffman a reward for finding and returning the wallet.

Retiree finds and returns wallet containing $1,600

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