When para Cammie Funston discovered that she had lost her favorite broach last Monday, September 17, she frantically began to retrace her steps.

“Once I got home, took off my sweater and saw the broach was missing, I had a horrible gut feeling,” Funston said.

Immediately Funston drove back to school to see if anyone had found the broach and turned it in. By the time she returned, parent teacher conferences were in progress. Funston’s heart sank.

“There were people everywhere,” Funston said, “Surely someone had found, thought it was cool and kept it.”

The pendant Funston lost is a lizard, about two inches long. It is vintage, antique silver with red rhinestones. Though the pendant may seem like any other broach with little to no value, to Funston it is priceless.

“It belonged to my mother. When I was younger she would let me play in her jewelry and the lizard was always my favorite,” Funston said.

Funston’s mother died September 11 after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Already diagnosed with the disease, her mother suffered through two strokes before she was finally called home. Before her mother passed, Funston repeatedly told her older sister that from all the things their mother owned,the broach was the one thing she wanted most.

“I wore the broach to feel closer to my mother,” Funston said. “But even if I can’t find it, my mother will always be in my heart.”

She is offering a small cash reward for the lost pendant, she has also purchased another pendant, thinking if the person with the pendant has it and won’t return it she could exchange the two.

“It would be nice to have the original one. We’ve all been tempted to keep things we’ve found but you never know what something means to someone,” Funston said.

If anyone has any information about the pendant, or has the pendant turn please turn it into the office.

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Words by Brittney Langston|Reporter