Lost check returned: How a woman’s good deed inspired others
By Taylor J. Hale
Staff Writer
PORTAGE COUNTY — The story of a Portage County woman returning a lost check to a local couple has been warming the hearts of area residents.
Emery Waldherr and her husband, Matt, were distraught when a paycheck went missing on May 17. The pair assumed the check to be long gone, probably adrift in Rosholt or near a prior job site.
Less than a week later, the couple received an odd letter in the mail:
“I found this lying in the ditch on Hwy 66. Thought you might be missing it. – Kari.”
Attached with the note was Matt Waldherr’s missing check.
Attached with the note was Matt Waldherr’s missing check. He had been working at his father-in-law’s business, Tony’s Landscaping and Excavating, for extra summer money, along with his third shift position at Greenheck in Mosinee when the check went missing.
“We were surprised to open the envelope and see it was the check,” Emery Waldherr said in an interview with the Gazette. “It’d already been rewritten, but we were surprised to see someone go through the trouble to return it.”
The Portage County couple may have already canceled the check by the time it was received, but that didn’t stop them from personally thanking Kari for her good deed.
“We both privately thanked Kari,” Waldherr explained.
The random act of kindness inspired Waldherr to take to social media and share the touching feat with the community. A post made on her Facebook account has drawn in 607 “likes” at the time of this article.
Emery didn’t expect such a powerful reaction from the public.
“Small things are uplifting for the whole community I feel because there’s so much bad,” Waldherr said.
After doing some digging, Waldherr learned more about Kari.
“Kari is Kari Zdroik, very humble about returning the check,” she said. “Just so happens, her husband and (brothers-in-law) graduated at the same school I did, and I’d gone to school with her little brother my whole life.”
Waldherr is grateful that the check was returned and feels the deed symbolizes the goodwill of Portage County.