Mystery couple returns forgotten purse to ‘eternally grateful’ Walmart shopper

Cathy Cowan feels like she just won the lottery.

After mistakenly leaving her purse behind in a shopping cart this past weekend, the Sault Ste. Marie woman was beside herself when a younger couple appeared in her driveway to return the invaluable item.

Now, she wants to remind the community there are still kind people out there doing extraordinary things.

“I’m still experiencing euphoria, I was just so shocked,” she told SooToday.

Cowan was having a difficult and busy day on Saturday when she arrived at Walmart to do some late-night shopping around 9 p.m.

Once she exited the store and transferred her items into her vehicle, Cowan left her cart in the lot and headed home.

“I always put my cart away, but I thought I’ll just push it here with another cart because it was the end of the night and they were going to collect them,” she said. “I could have sworn I took my purse out of the seat portion of the cart.”

Living just a few minutes away from the store, Cowan got home and began unloading her things.

She quickly realized she didn’t have her purse.  

“I got my flashlight and I’m looking under the seats and everything,” she recalled. “It was late and dark, and I knew Walmart was closing up.”

Prepared to return to the store, Cowan got into her vehicle and began to back up when she realized someone was blocking her driveway.

“They were beeping their horn and I thought I was going to have to ask them to move, this is not a good time,” she said. “So, I got out of the van and had to go look.”

That’s when a taller gentleman emerged from his vehicle with Cowan’s purse in hand and said: ‘I bet you’re on your way back to Walmart, is this what you’re looking for?’

Cowan was speechless.

“I’m pretty sure it’s the same feeling you get when you win the lottery,” she said. “I had everything in there — my telephone, passport, credit cards. It would have been a nightmare for me. I was feeling sick at the thought of it.”

“I didn’t even know what to say to him,” she added. “Just to have someone show up like that, I can’t even explain the feeling. It made me feel so good.”

Cowan learned the person's name was Darren, a younger man who was with his girlfriend when they returned the purse.

She believes his girlfriend checked to see what her address was based on the information contained in the purse before they brought it to the house, just several minutes after the item was forgotten at the store.

“He almost apologized for even looking in my purse to check where I lived,” Cowan said. “They were so happy to return it to me. I don’t even know how they came across the cart. I think they probably thought they were just doing a favour, but they don’t realize how important it was.”

Cowan took to social media on Sunday and shared her surprise experience on the “Keeping the Soo Safe” Facebook page in hopes of locating the couple.

The post has since amassed more than 1,700 reactions and dozens of comments from residents who were touched by the story.

“I think it’s important to acknowledge when something like this happens because people are easily swayed by negativity more so than positivity,” Cowan said. “It may sound simple to some people that it was just a purse, but it was a situation that could have wrecked my life.”

While she hasn’t been able to reach out to Darren and his girlfriend yet, Cowan is looking forward to hopefully touching base in the near future to extend her appreciation.

She also noted that she won’t forget to put her shopping cart back into the corral next time.

“This was the one time I didn’t put the cart back, and I’m thinking bad karma of course,” Cowan laughed. “But it wasn’t. Somehow, it turned around. I’m eternally grateful.”