Posted on: Tuesday, July 13, 2004

South Dakota man finds lost bag, new friends

Advertiser Staff and News Services

When Don Hunt got back to Honolulu from a weeklong Mainland trip with his wife, Nancy, and their grandson, he sent a large care package of children's books, macadamia nuts, local chocolates and souvenirs to South Dakotan David Huber, the man who saved the Hunts' June vacation.

The couple had lost a black bag with credit cards and $700 in cash after a gas station stop in Sioux Falls, S.D. They didn't realize it was missing until they arrived at their motel in Fort Robinson, a resort town in Nebraska.

"You go through a lot of emotions, the first one is panic," said Don Hunt. They had reserved their hotel with a credit card so they were assured of lodging. But they were soon down to their last $24.

Had they known how things would turn out, they would not have needed to panic.

Huber said he knew something was wrong when he spotted a black bag in the middle of U.S. Highway 81 near Freeman.

He opened it and found cash, credit cards and other important material.

He quickly called the Freeman gas station, the Hunts' home and business numbers, their bank in Honolulu, their rental car service and even their credit card company. He told all of them that if the Hunts were looking for their bag they should call him directly.

Meanwhile, Nancy Hunt began retracing their steps and started calling all the possible gas stations where they might have left the bag. She finally got news at the Freeman gas station.

"I was stunned," she said.

She immediately called Huber, and they talked about the day's events.

"You know it was just such a wonderful thing," Nancy Hunt said Friday in a telephone interview.

She was so impressed by the good deed that she even wrote a letter to South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds to tell him what had happened.

"He went to a great deal of trouble for folks that he has never met," Hunt said in her letter.

The Hunts wanted to reward Huber with $150 and said he should take it from the bag.

But he refused. "I felt that they needed it more for their vacation than I did," Huber said.

The Hunts and Huber have since become friends.

Nancy Hunt sent the Huber family a five-page letter telling them about their lives and included pictures of the whole family, Huber said.

Advertiser staff writer Anna Weaver and the Associated Press contributed to this report.