• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Human Interest / Suitcase found in Arkansas has link to Iowa memories

Suitcase found in Arkansas has link to Iowa memories

August 4, 2008 By admin

A battered suitcase full of memories has appeared in Arkansas that may be very valuable to an Iowa family.  Someone carefully placed the decades-old suitcase, apparently at random, in a driveway in Benton County, Arkansas, last week.

Sheriff’s Deputy Doug Gay says, “We’ve got quite a little treasure trove of heirlooms and national history, for that matter.” Deputy Gay says the case contains a 1937 Iowa driver’s license from Howard W. Evenden, along with a host of his bank records, letters and documents from his ancestors.

“This wedding certificate dates back to the mid-1800s, something like 1856, prior to the Civil War,” he says. His headstone, which investigators located at the National Cemetery in Fayetteville, Arkansas, says he was a sergeant in the Army Air Corps during the first world war. Gay says it appears Evenden had an extensive military career, as detailed by the dozens of sepia-toned photographs.

Gay says: “We have a photo album depicting a lot of scenes of World War One, to include aircraft and some battle scenes from around the European theatre. There’s a photograph of General Persing in there, there’s tanks and again, a lot of aircraft.” The aged suitcase is very tattered and neither of its latches work, he says, yet everything inside was stacked and orderly, as if it hadn’t been touched in decades.

While there are apparent ties to Sioux City and Des Moines, the fragile documents in the suitcase indicate Evenden visited, or may have lived in, several other states, including Nebraska, Wyoming, New York and Rogers, Arkansas — not far from where the case was discovered.

“Wherever it came from, whoever placed it there, did just that, placed it there,” Gay says. “We’re supposing that it might’ve been involved in a burglary and we’re hoping whoever the burglar was had a conscience and saw that this would mean something to somebody.” The headstone says Evenden died in 1957. Gay hopes some relative, perhaps in Iowa, will claim the history-packed satchel and preserve it. For more information, contact the deputy at: 479- 271-1008.

AUDIO:Radio Iowa’s Matt Kelley report. :44 MP3

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Human Interest

Featured Stories

Governor signs Iowa Renewable Fuels Standard into law

Jury returns guilty verdict in shooting death of State Trooper

A haboob, a dust storm black out, hits northwest Iowa

Summit has easements for 20% of carbon pipeline route through Iowa

Morel mushroom hunters on hold without warmer conditions

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa’s Huckstorf garners national award

Iowa Special Olympics Summer games set to open in Ames

Radio Iowa/Baseball Coaches Association High School Poll 5/16/22

Iowa assistant coach Kirk Speraw to retire

Northern Iowa prepares for Missouri Valley Conference softball tournament

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2022 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC