A custodian discovered a red purse at North Canton Middle School in 2019. The purse had gone missing in the 1950s, and peering inside was like peering into the past. The luggage was discovered stuck under a piece of removable metal when repairs were being made to the lockers. It was a little grimy and dusty, but the contents were in good condition. Patti Rumfola had misplaced the handbag when she was a teenager attending what was then “Hoover High School” in 1957.

A look inside the bag reveals a teenager’s active, structured, and happy home life. American Junior Red Cross cards, YMCA membership, ticket stubs, sharpened pencils, pens, a pocket calendar, and pictures of friends and family were among the items discovered. When they realized Rumfola was the owner of the purse, they contacted the North Canton Alumni Association to see if they could find her. The organization discovered that she graduated from the high school in 1960.

Rumfola tragically died in 2013 at the age of 71 while living in Pennsylvania. She appears to have enjoyed a long life, as her obituary revealed that she worked in Annapolis, Maryland, before retiring as a schoolteacher. She was an active member of her community when she was younger, and as an adult, she helped to establish the Theater Arts Guild and worked with the Young Women’s Club in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Rumfola worked at the Reitz Theatre as a seamstress and costume designer, and she enjoyed spending time with her children and grandkids.

Her grown children were called since the purse could not be returned to its proper owner. “Patti’s five children were together for a family gathering in the fall where they opened the purse to have a glimpse into their mother’s life as a teenager at Hoover High School,” North Canton Middle School stated on Facebook. “Each of her five children kept one of the wheat pennies as a memento of their mother.”

In 2019, a janitor was repairing lockers at a high school when he discovered a red bag jammed under a detachable metal piece.They discovered that Patti Rumfola had misplaced the suitcase in 1957.Looking into the bag was like peering into a time capsule of an Ohio adolescent from the 1950s.Because Rumfola died in 2013, they were unable to return the purse to her. They contacted her grown children, who each took a cent from the bag in memory of their mother.