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CNN Live Today
Interview With John and Jack Payne
Aired May 02, 2002 - 14:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to a story about three generations and a wallet that has seemingly traveled across time. John Payne is a police officer. He works in the San Francisco area. But so too was his father. And so too was his father's father, John's grandfather.
Last week Payne received a rather unusual item in the mail, his grandfather's wallet which had disappeared back in 1951. John Payne, the son and the father, Jack, now join us live from San Francisco. Good afternoon, gentlemen. Good to have you with us today.
This is a wonderful story. John, just so our viewers know, your father -- excuse me, John, I am getting this confused now. Your grandfather lost the wallet in 1951. Never thought anything of it after that. But now, 50 years later, you go to the mailbox recently and you find what?
JOHN PAYNE, GRANDFATHER'S WALLET RETURNED: I find and envelope addressed to the San Francisco Police Department to a John M. Payne. And open it up, and it's my grandfather's wallet with his police ID card and also some other items. I was just flabbergasted.
HEMMER: What were you thinking?
JOHN PAYNE: Well, I was 4 years old when my grandfather died. He had already retired from the police department. I had never heard about the missing wallet. I got on the phone and talked to my dad and he'd never heard about the missing wallet either.
HEMMER: I understand you brought some of the items, the wallet and maybe some of the things that were inside. Show us quickly here, John, what was inside the wallet.
JOHN PAYNE: This is the wallet. Along with it was his ID card. On the back of the ID card from 1942, it said San Francisco Police Department. So the fellow who found the wallet took a shot and 50 years later mailed it back to the San Francisco Police Department.
HEMMER: I understand there was some money in there too.
JOHN PAYNE: Well, he wrote a little P.S. that there was $60 inside the wallet and instead of sending money in the mail he wrote a check for $60 made out to my father.
HEMMER: Listen, I read that the gene pool kind of reflects the two of you and some guys who have seen the picture of your grandfather, although your recollection is not that sharp. Again, you were a very young guy. Apparently you guys look a lot alike, is that right?
JOHN PAYNE: You be the judge, Bill. Check out the hairline.
HEMMER: Very good. How about your father, Jack? What do you make of all this?
JACK PAYNE, FATHER'S WALLET RETURNED: I'm just in shock. And also, we got a nice later from the man that found the wallet. And what I couldn't understand is why he didn't tell any of us that he had lost the wallet. I checked with my mother, he never told my mother. I checked with my sister. And that's how it went.
HEMMER: So your father never explained to you or anyone else back in 1951 that he ever lost his wallet. But apparently man in Tucson, Arizona -- he now lives in Tucson. Robert Kupbens is the man who found the wallet. Did he write a note or anything?
JACK PAYNE: We have the note here.
HEMMER: What did he say in it?
JACK PAYNE: Read the note, John.
JOHN PAYNE: He just said that he was at a truck stop in 1951 in Bakersfield, California and found it in a phone booth. And he had misplaced it along the way and meant to send it back and found it again 50 years later.
HEMMER: What explains the fact that it took him 50 years to get around to a mailbox, John?
JACK PAYNE: He said that when he got in an accident just after he found it, and he put it in an old Army jacket. And when he got home he put it in a junk closet, you know, and he told his mother to put some straws in front of the junk closet. And over the years he just forgot about. And then when he finally retrieved it, he sent it to us.
HEMMER: Have you talked to him, Jack?
JACK PAYNE: I have talked to him, and I told him what a great guy he s. But he's really, now he's trying to -- he's staying away from any publicity. He's not returning any calls.
HEMMER: One has to think that your father is probably communicating with you after all these years.
JACK PAYNE: That's how it feels, yes. That's how it feels.
HEMMER: Well, listen, gentlemen, I appreciate your time. Thanks for sharing your story with us today. And good luck getting ribbed by the guys you work with, John. All righty? John and Jack Payne from San Francisco. The story of the wallet returned 50 years later. Many thanks, men.
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