'Holiday Heroes' Return Missing Purse

Robin Frisch and her 30-year-old daughter Mara received an early and unexpected Christmas gift last week—the return of Mara’s purse.

“It goes to show that the people in Yorkville are just good people,” Frisch said.

The mother and daughter team were out Christmas shopping and running other errands when Mara suddenly realized she did not have her purse. The two women retraced their steps in hopes some good Samaritan had turned the purse in to a store for safe keeping.

“We were panicked when we first realized the purse was missing, Frisch said in a telephone interview. “We called my daughter’s cell phone hoping to hear it ringing somewhere in the car, but there was nothing.”

Frisch, who moved to Yorkville five years ago from Naperville, said they began to retrace their steps in retail establishments they visited earlier, but found nothing. One of their stops happened to be the Post Office, 601 E. Countryside Parkway. Although it was approximately 10 p.m., they returned.

There was no sign of the purse by the drop box, but Frisch said there was an automobile sitting in the parking lot with a couple in the front seats. They walked up to the car and as Frisch’s daughter was asking about her purse the couple held up the missing handbag.

“Oh my gosh we were so relieved,” Frisch said.

The couple, Tom and Norma Prell from Oswego, told Frisch they knew someone would return for the purse so they patiently waited in the parking lot.

But the tale doesn’t end there. As the Frisch women went on their way Mara looked inside her purse and discovered a mobile telephone that was not hers – it belonged to Norma Prell. Norma had accidentally dropped it in Mara’s purse when she was searching for a way to contact Mara about the recovered purse. Frisch said they checked the telephone’s contact list and discovered Tom Prell’s number and called him. The four returned to the same post office parking lot and made another exchange.

“Norma saw us and said ‘we’ve got to stop meeting like this,’” Frisch recalled.

For the second time the same night the couples parted, but this time everyone had what belonged to them.

“Ever since we came here we’ve seen time and time again the basic goodness in people,” Frisch said.

Frisch said she's often mentioned the high character of area residents to her daughter, who recently moved to the area to help her after back surgery.

“I told my daughter that people in this area are so good and I knew things would work out alright in the end.”

Frisch expects she and her daughter will run into the Prells at least one more time. During their conversation the Prells told her they go to the Stonefire Restaurant and Pub every Friday night. Frisch said she and Mara plan on meeting them at the restaurant to treat them to dessert for being “holiday heroes.”