$31,000 Lost and Found

As Jacquellyn Cameron tells it, the seeds of her new life were in that purse.

And when she realized it was missing the Saturday before Memorial Day, along with about $31,000 in cash and bonds intended for the purchase of a mobile home in Camarillo, the 66-year-old became frantic.

But lucky for Cameron, a good-hearted man named Ken Herron happened to be driving own Central Avenue when he noticed the black leather purse lying by the side of the road.

“It was unbelievable,” said the 51-year-old Cajun and Louisiana native, a longtime employee at the Southern California Gas Co.

“The only thing I was worried about was not getting it to her fast enough,” he said. “From her picture she looked like this little ol’ lady and might have needed that money quick.”

And, as it turns out, she did.

Cameron, a handwriting analysis expert, moved to Camarillo from Arizona after the death of her 90-year-old father and attempting to reconcile with her ex-husband. With the money in her handbag, she hoped to build a new life amid the citrus groves and coyote brush.

She’d gone to the Casa del Norte Mobile Home Park that Saturday to buy a two-bedroom residence and some furniture. The appointment fell through, so Cameron went back to her car and took a business card from her purse to stick in the door.

She then started to leave and after driving about 30 feet, noticed her purse was gone.

“I looked everywhere and even made a fool of myself poking around in the bushes,” she said. “But I didn’t see it anywhere so I went back home to call my bank and try to make some arrangements.”

She canceled her credit cards, notified her bank and then called police.

“I’m not too sure why I called them because I never expected to see it again,” she said. Then the phone rang.

“This is your friendly gas man,” the voice on the phone said. “Did you lose anything?”

It was Herron with the purse and every last cent Cameron thought was gone forever.

“She was so distraught,” he said, in his lazy Louisiana drawl. “But could you blame her? She’d just lost her nest egg.”

Herron went to her apartment and returned the purse. Cameron immediately rifled through its compartments to make sure everything was still there. When she found all the money and bonds in place, she tried in vain to give Herron a reward.

“I told her that as an employee of the Gas Co. I couldn’t accept any gratuities,” he said. “Besides, we’re an honest company, we uphold the law and no one that I know would ever take a reward for something that’s policy.”

Neither Cameron nor Herron know how the purse came to rest at the side of the road--about a quarter-mile from the trailer park. Both are just happy it’s back where it rightfully belongs.

Cameron has since purchased the mobile home, which would have been impossible if the purse had remained missing. She moves in at the end of the month.

Herron, who said he soon put the whole episode out of his mind, recently received a commendation and $200 check from the Southern California Gas Co. for his good deed.

Cameron and her financial savior have even gone on to become friends. She plans on paying Herron a visit after she’s settled into her new home.

“I’ve always believed that if you’re happy and fulfilled you’d never take anyone’s property,” she said. “And I think that’s why Ken did this; he’s wonderful.”