LIHU‘E — Mr. and Mrs. Karl French wanted to visit Kaua‘i partly because they had heard about the graciousness and friendliness of Kauaians. The travelers weren’t disappointed. On Monday, in the middle of their seven-day visit to Kaua‘i, Karl French
LIHU‘E — Mr. and Mrs. Karl French wanted to visit Kaua‘i partly because they had heard about the graciousness and friendliness of Kauaians.
The travelers weren’t disappointed.
On Monday, in the middle of their seven-day visit to Kaua‘i, Karl French discovered his wallet was missing after he and his wife visited the factory of the Original Red Dirt Shirt Co. at Port Allen.
Tina Yadao, manager of the Original Red Dirt Shirt Company store in Lihu‘e, and an employee, Nameleonalani “Mele” Sahut, went out of their way to find and return the wallet to the Frenches.
On that day, Yadao cut short her time with her family, went through trash cans in parking lots outside the factory, found the wallet, and returned it to the Frenches late at night.
The wallet contained travelers’ checks, cash and identification.
Because the wallet was found, the travelers could complete their first-ever trip to Kaua‘i, a seven-day visit to the island that ended Wednesday.
“When they found out their wallet was missing, they expected the cash and the travelers’ checks to be stolen,” Yadao said in a brief interview with The Garden Island. “When he (Karl French) opened his wallet, he said, ‘I can’t believe everything is there.’”
Last Monday, the couple was cleaning out their rental vehicle in the parking lot of the Original Red Dirt Shirt Company factory at Port Allen, and tossed out Karl French’s wallet by mistake, Yadao said.
Yadao finished her work at the Original Red Dirt Shirt Co. store in Lihu‘e at 4:30 p.m. that day, and drove home to Waimea with her grandson.
Yadao said she almost reached home when Sahut, an employee at the Original Red Dirt Shirt store in Lihu‘e, called her on her cellular phone to say the wallet was missing.
Sahut called her boss after the Frenches had discovered the wallet missing while in Wailua, and got in touch with her.
The couple was staying at an East Kaua‘i hotel.
So Yadao drove back to the Port Allen factory, and went to a parking lot behind it, sifted through a trash can, but came up empty-handed.
She then drove to the parking lot in front of the factory, sifted through another trash can, and at 5:45 p.m., while going through two trash bags, found the missing wallet.
Yadao said she was happy about the recovery, but was temporarily stumped; The wallet didn’t contain any contact numbers she could use to link her with the travelers.
The only link to the couple was a sales receipt from a company the couple had bought something from earlier, Yadao said.
Yadao contacted the Kaua‘i company, and company representatives called the couple at the East Kaua‘i hotel where the Frenches were staying.
“The problem is that they weren’t there,” Yadao said.
In the meantime, she had gone home because she couldn’t immediately locate the Frenches.
The couple called the Original Red Dirt Shirt Company store in Lihu‘e to see if the wallet had been found.
The employee then gave Yadao’s telephone number to the travelers, who called her at her home at 6 p.m.
Yadao and the couple met in the parking lot of the Kauai Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waimea at 6:30 p.m., and the wallet was returned.
“We met and there was a happy ending,” Yadao said. “The wife told me that this was the best trip they had ever had. They said they were going to come back.”
Yadao is a relative of Rodney Yadao, a onetime member of the Kaua‘i County Council and a community leader from Kilauea.
Lester Chang, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 225) or mailto:lchang@pulitzer.net.
