NORTH ANDOVER — Most of the pocketbook was buried in the sand for more than four years, submerged in water and rotting away on the floor of the Saco River in Fryeburg, Maine.
"We were just out for a canoe ride," recalled Michael Dionne of Hudson, recalling the summer vacation trip in 2004 that turned into a nightmare for him and his wife, Delia.
"It was our first time going down the river. And right before we got to the end of the river, we got sucked up in the rapids, got hung up under a tree branch, and the canoe capsized," he said.
When the couple retrieved the canoe downstream, they couldn't find the pocketbook containing their wallets, vacation money, car and cottage keys, credit cards and other personal identification. Gone for good, they figured.
But destiny and a good deed reunited the Dionnes with the pocketbook Sept. 6.
Two families representing North Andover Boy Scout Troop 86 were near the end of their first canoe trip on the Saco.
They were completing a 4-mile, 5 1/2-hour cleanup that filled 25 39-gallon trash bags. Other items that couldn't fit in the bags - such as sleeping bags and lounge chairs - were stuffed in four canoes.
"We were at the end of the trip and saw something shiny - the buckle of a pocketbook that was mostly covered up in the sand," recalled Jennifer Cote, a troop committee member.
Cote's sighting aroused the curiosity of her son Nick and his friend Kyle Skelton - the two 12-year-old Scouts who were out on the river that day. They were determined to find out what the shiny object was and retrieve it from the river.
"I really believe if the boys didn't circle around and try to get the pocketbook, it would have stayed right there," Cote said.
"My husband, John, took a big fishing net and scooped it out. I think everybody was shocked that we had just found somebody's pocketbook. It was big enough to hold a man's wallet, a woman's wallet, various sets of keys, makeup, credit cards and personal information. That was the last thing we took out of the river that day," she said.
Everything was smelly and gooey. And six 100-dollar bills that were underwater for four years were falling apart.
From the credit cards and other personal information, Jennifer was able to track down the number that put her in touch with the Dionnes. She mailed the contents of the pocketbook and half the cash, along with photographs of the Boy Scouts who found them.
"All the stuff we lost - except for the money - has been replaced. But it's just unbelievable that somebody would be so honest to return the stuff to us," Michael Dionne said. "To me, that's just priceless."
