Grateful woman contributes to student’s tuition after lost iPad returned

“My story begins with my first major mistake of the day,” Mary Burke stated in a letter addressed to Ohio Christian University. The letter elaborated on an unfortunate situation with a lost item and how an OCU student came to the rescue.

Mary explained that after a hard day of yard work, she unthinkably placed her iPad on the hood of her car. “Call it being really tired, a senior moment or whatever you want, I never picked it up or even thought about it,” she wrote.

After running an errand for an elderly friend a few moments later, she returned home to check her email on her only device—an iPad—full of scheduled appointments, vacation reservations, and countless pictures. After searching in various places, she soon realized her mistake.

Mary searched all over Circleville—retracing her route for her lost device and visiting every pawnshop with no luck. Placing an ad in the Circleville Herald for a $100 reward, she waited for someone to contact her.

Twenty-four hours later, Mary received a phone call from a stranger who saw the ad—informing her that someone had posted about it on social media. Exchanging information, Mary was able to contact the OCU student, Kelsey Blackman, who had found the iPad.

Within 15-minutes Mary met with Kelsey and the hunt was over, but the student wouldn’t accept the reward—saying that it was just the right thing to do.

Understanding that college can be tough, Mary has since asked that the $100 reward be applied to Kelsey’s tuition. She concluded her letter by saying, “There are plenty of good folks of all ages left in this world.”

Read Mary’s full letter here.