TULSA, Okla. — It was a simple act of kindness that connected two families across state lines.
For the last five years, Cullen Horn has been a termite and air vent inspector. At this point in his career, he said he’s been in thousands of crawl spaces to clean, inspect, and replace air vents while checking for any additional issues for homeowners.
It’s not uncommon for him to find random things in crawl spaces and vents.
“I have found loads of things over the years,” Horn said. “You’d be surprised at how many things just slip through the cracks.”
Over time, documenting his finds became a fun past time for himself and his wife, Courtney Crowder.
“He sends me pictures of all kinds of things,” Crowder said. “I’ve gotten pictures of old maps from the 40s, matchbox cars, live cats, old tins, it’s fun to see.”
Usually, the various items make it into Horn’s collection or the trash, but on Thursday, Horn found something he knew was special.
I was cleaning out space just trying to clear debris and I just saw these three pieces. They were real dirty at first but when I wiped them off I saw they were pictures and thought wow these are defiantly something special.
Horn snapped a picture of the pendants with photos in them and sent them to Courtney. They both agreed they needed to try get the pendants back to the family they belonged to.
“They were beautiful,” Crowder said. “I knew that if I had something like that of my mother or grandmother missing I would have definitely wanted them back.”
The couple decided to use Facebook to help them with their mission.
“It’s amazing how you can post something and it just travels across state lines,” Horn chuckled.
After a quick post, it took just hours for the cyber community to find who they belonged to.
“I was amazed at how quickly it all happened,” Crowder said.
The couple found out that the three pendants were pictures of a mother and her two daughters, and belonged to a woman in Illinois named Terry. However, the thing was, Terry didn’t even know they existed.
“When we managed to talk to her, she was overjoyed,” Crowder said. “She said they must have been her fathers, and it meant a lot to her because they put the house up for sale after her parents passed.”
Crowder says she’s mailing the pendants later today.
“It feels really good to do this for someone,” Crowder said. “She said we were a Godsend, so I know they mean a lot to her.”
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