Arizona man finds heirloom cake topper, returns it to rightful owner

CHANDLER, Ariz. (CNN, KYMA/KECY) - An Arizona man found a family heirloom cake topper and used help from the community to find its rightful owner.

"One of my previous clients reached out, she's a realtor, and said, 'Can you come by this home and give me an estimate on fixing it up and getting it ready for the next renter?'" said David Hartung, a handyman.

Hartung, known for his keen eye and honest work, was recently doing a routine walkthrough at a vacant home in Chandler when something unusual caught his attention.

"As we were going around, doing what you call a punch list, we started going through drawers and cabinets and something was rattling in the back of this drawer," Hartung shared.

Tucked in the back of the drawer swaddled in bubble wrap was a wedding cake topper and a note, a discovery that clearly dictated a closer look.

"It says, 'Jean and George Singlar wedding cake topper September 11th, 1954.' My first thought was, 'We have to find who this belongs to. This is some pretty serious memorabilia here,'" Hartung expressed.

Hartung knew just where to turn: Posting a picture of the seemingly precious item to a few Chandler and Gilbert community Facebook pages.

"And for the next couple of hours, the comments just flooded in," Hartung described.

Folks, eager to help, identified the couple who had both sadly passed away. But soon, a message would appear shining some hope on the situation.

"And this woman finally reached out, turned out to be the granddaughter and said 'Oh my gosh. This is mine,'" Hartung remarked.

"We just moved across the country from Arizona to Illinois, so I didn't even realize it was missing yet," said Kim Telfer, who is Jean and George's granddaughter.

Turns out Telfer had recently sold the home and the company who packed and shipped their possessions had accidentally left the topper behind.

"It's from 1954. My grandparents used it on their cake and I also used it at my wedding when we got married," Telfer shared.

Hartung shipped it out this weekend, but can't help but be thankful for the community who invested so much into track down it's home.

"Everybody put on their detective hats and found this individual. It was really heart warming experience," Hartung added.

"You see there's still good people out there that want to help and it will mean a lot when it's back in my possession," Telfer also added.