True love stories have a way of transcending time, circumstances and even death. Donald Reiten of rural Dent thought his love story was over when his wife of 64 years, Alma, died a month ago. “Since the day she was born she’s been known as ‘Girlie,’” said Reiten, tearing up and looking down at his hands. For him, picking out what he loved most about his Girlie is still too much. “Oh God. You haven’t got enough time,” he said, shaking his head in grief. Reiten’s pain is fresh; he hasn’t had to say goodbye to Girlie since he left on the train for World War II. They grew up not far from each other in Hastings, N.D. “I remember when I left on the train, she was there, but she was still a little girl,” said Reiten. “When I came back from the Navy, she wasn’t a little girl anymore; she grew up. We started going together; we’ve had fun ever since.” Donald and Girlie raised four children together. They took care of each other, said Reiten. Girlie always made sure Donald’s clothes matched and that he ate properly. “She was always smiling and happy,” said Reiten. “She spoiled me.” She would spoil him with gifts sometimes, too. One of those gifts was a silver, engraved bracelet that Girlie gave Donald for his 25th birthday, six months before they got married. It had his name on the front and the date of Jan. 29, 1951, on the back, along with the inscription, “Love, Girlie.” Over time, Reiten lost track of that bracelet until some very unusual circumstances brought it back to him recently - just when he needed it most. Some might say it’s an incredible coincidence; others might say it is true love’s refusal to end. Diamond in the ruff It was just like any other day for Clay County Landfill Operator Wayne Leitheiser. He was driving a large compactor, dealing with one of the many piles of trash that dots the 85-acre stretch of land. Then, something shiny caught his attention. “I happened to look down, and it looked like an old wrist watch laying there,” said Leitheiser, who sees things like this all the time and rarely bothers to get off the machinery to pick them up. For some reason, however, he did this time. “I looked at it, and I saw a guy’s name on it,” said Leitheiser, who still didn’t think much of it. “I read the back, and it said something about ‘Girlie’ and ‘love you,’ and so I put it in my pocket.” Leitheiser took it home, cleaned it up and started Googling the name. “I just had to see if I could locate him. For some reason, I don’t know, I had to try,” said Leitheiser.
Up popped the name “Donald Reiten,” which was associated with a recent obituary for Alma Reiten, who was, as it stated in the online obituary, better known as “Girlie.” “I knew I had the right guy,” said Leitheiser, who also knew he had to call. The gift “I got the telephone call, and there was this guy on the phone just after the funeral,” said Reiten. “And the guy says, ‘You don’t know me, but I work out at the Clay County landfill, and I found a bracelet out there.’” Reiten, who says he initially didn’t remember the bracelet, thought somebody was playing a cruel joke on him. “I was so shaken after that,” he said. “You could tell he was very emotional; I knew he had just lost his wife,” said Leitheiser, who ended the phone conversation by telling Reiten that he would mail the bracelet to him. “But after I got off with him I thought, that didn’t sound very good,” said Leitheiser, who along with his wife, Sara, drove out to rural Dent the next day to hand-deliver the bracelet to its rightful owner. Although Reiten did not initially recall the bracelet when talking to Leitheiser, the moment he laid it in his hand, he knew. “I knew it was right,” said Reiten, who broke down crying. He had no idea how it got lost or how it had ended up in the Clay County landfill, but he knew it was a little piece of his Girlie. “He just kept looking at it and rubbing it,” said Leitheiser, who stayed for coffee and listened to the story of Donald and Girlie. “So when they were leaving, I offered to pay him. I asked him, ‘How much do I owe you?’” said Reiten. “And he said ‘Nothing.’ He said, ‘My dad taught me that a handshake is a contract,’ and he didn’t want anything,” said Reiten, who continues to be in awe of Leitheiser’s honesty and out-of-the-blue good deed. “It just felt good; it was actually enjoyable to listen to his old stories,” said Leitheiser. “On the way home, me and Sara both felt really good. It’s where it belongs.” Reiten’s family is puzzled as to how the bracelet ended up in the landfill 90 miles away, but suspects it had to have been in a pocket of some piece of old clothing that was thrown out after Girlie’s funeral. Garbage from Dent goes to the Perham incinerator, so if that is where the bracelet went, it escaped incineration and traveled to the Clay County landfill, where it sat like a diamond in the ruff, waiting to be found by a stranger who would do something with it. “It wasn’t a coincidence; it was something… some higher power,” said Leitheiser. “It’s a big area and a lot of stuff, and there it sat. I should have run it over 100 times.” As Reiten has told others the story of the bracelet, he says everybody believes this was something bigger - perhaps even one last gift from Girlie as a lost, heartbroken Donald struggles to live his days without her. “It’s not going to leave me again,” said Reiten, looking down at the bracelet. “It means a lot. I can’t explain it. I look at it, and I can see her and the big smile on her face when she gave it to me.”True love stories have a way of transcending time, circumstances and even death.Donald Reiten of rural Dent thought his love story was over when his wife of 64 years, Alma, died a month ago.“Since the day she was born she’s been known as ‘Girlie,’” said Reiten, tearing up and looking down at his hands. For him, picking out what he loved most about his Girlie is still too much.“Oh God. You haven’t got enough time,” he said, shaking his head in grief.Reiten’s pain is fresh; he hasn’t had to say goodbye to Girlie since he left on the train for World War II. They grew up not far from each other in Hastings, N.D.“I remember when I left on the train, she was there, but she was still a little girl,” said Reiten. “When I came back from the Navy, she wasn’t a little girl anymore; she grew up. We started going together; we’ve had fun ever since.”Donald and Girlie raised four children together. They took care of each other, said Reiten. Girlie always made sure Donald’s clothes matched and that he ate properly.“She was always smiling and happy,” said Reiten. “She spoiled me.”She would spoil him with gifts sometimes, too. One of those gifts was a silver, engraved bracelet that Girlie gave Donald for his 25th birthday, six months before they got married. It had his name on the front and the date of Jan. 29, 1951, on the back, along with the inscription, “Love, Girlie.”Over time, Reiten lost track of that bracelet until some very unusual circumstances brought it back to him recently - just when he needed it most.Some might say it’s an incredible coincidence; others might say it is true love’s refusal to end.Diamond in the ruffIt was just like any other day for Clay County Landfill Operator Wayne Leitheiser. He was driving a large compactor, dealing with one of the many piles of trash that dots the 85-acre stretch of land. Then, something shiny caught his attention.“I happened to look down, and it looked like an old wrist watch laying there,” said Leitheiser, who sees things like this all the time and rarely bothers to get off the machinery to pick them up.For some reason, however, he did this time.“I looked at it, and I saw a guy’s name on it,” said Leitheiser, who still didn’t think much of it.“I read the back, and it said something about ‘Girlie’ and ‘love you,’ and so I put it in my pocket.”Leitheiser took it home, cleaned it up and started Googling the name.“I just had to see if I could locate him. For some reason, I don’t know, I had to try,” said Leitheiser.
Up popped the name “Donald Reiten,” which was associated with a recent obituary for Alma Reiten, who was, as it stated in the online obituary, better known as “Girlie.”“I knew I had the right guy,” said Leitheiser, who also knew he had to call.The gift“I got the telephone call, and there was this guy on the phone just after the funeral,” said Reiten. “And the guy says, ‘You don’t know me, but I work out at the Clay County landfill, and I found a bracelet out there.’”Reiten, who says he initially didn’t remember the bracelet, thought somebody was playing a cruel joke on him.“I was so shaken after that,” he said.“You could tell he was very emotional; I knew he had just lost his wife,” said Leitheiser, who ended the phone conversation by telling Reiten that he would mail the bracelet to him.“But after I got off with him I thought, that didn’t sound very good,” said Leitheiser, who along with his wife, Sara, drove out to rural Dent the next day to hand-deliver the bracelet to its rightful owner.Although Reiten did not initially recall the bracelet when talking to Leitheiser, the moment he laid it in his hand, he knew.“I knew it was right,” said Reiten, who broke down crying. He had no idea how it got lost or how it had ended up in the Clay County landfill, but he knew it was a little piece of his Girlie.“He just kept looking at it and rubbing it,” said Leitheiser, who stayed for coffee and listened to the story of Donald and Girlie.“So when they were leaving, I offered to pay him. I asked him, ‘How much do I owe you?’” said Reiten. “And he said ‘Nothing.’ He said, ‘My dad taught me that a handshake is a contract,’ and he didn’t want anything,” said Reiten, who continues to be in awe of Leitheiser’s honesty and out-of-the-blue good deed.“It just felt good; it was actually enjoyable to listen to his old stories,” said Leitheiser. “On the way home, me and Sara both felt really good. It’s where it belongs.”Reiten’s family is puzzled as to how the bracelet ended up in the landfill 90 miles away, but suspects it had to have been in a pocket of some piece of old clothing that was thrown out after Girlie’s funeral.Garbage from Dent goes to the Perham incinerator, so if that is where the bracelet went, it escaped incineration and traveled to the Clay County landfill, where it sat like a diamond in the ruff, waiting to be found by a stranger who would do something with it.“It wasn’t a coincidence; it was something… some higher power,” said Leitheiser. “It’s a big area and a lot of stuff, and there it sat. I should have run it over 100 times.”As Reiten has told others the story of the bracelet, he says everybody believes this was something bigger - perhaps even one last gift from Girlie as a lost, heartbroken Donald struggles to live his days without her.“It’s not going to leave me again,” said Reiten, looking down at the bracelet. “It means a lot. I can’t explain it. I look at it, and I can see her and the big smile on her face when she gave it to me.”
