PICTOU COUNTY – If the person who took the sign from the end of her Logan Road driveway knew the story behind it, Donna Peart is sure they would have thought twice before swiping it.
Sometime overnight Sunday, someone stole the sign, cut and painted to resemble a Nova Scotia duck toller, from her property. When she discovered it was missing, she spent the day crying and desperately searching for it.
Here’s why.
While on paper, and to most people, it probably wasn’t worth much, to Peart it is irreplaceable. The sign was handcrafted for her late husband Bill before he died just last year after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. People might remember his story because of his effort to raise money and go to the United States for liberation treatment.
The sign was crafted by one of his students from Westville High School, a girl Donna said her husband thought of like a daughter. She made the sign using the skills he had taught her and he proudly put it at the end of his driveway for all who visited to see. Donna and Bill were duck toller breeders for years, which is why the student had made it in the shape of the dog.
Over time the sign became part of the way they gave directions to their home.
“Just look for the driveway with the dog sign,” they would tell people.
“It was a popular little sign,” said Donna.
Donna remembers coming home one day to find her husband crying in the kitchen. He told her that the girl who made the sign had died unexpectedly. The sign in front of his home became a fond memory of her for them both and they lovingly had it repainted on a regular basis to keep it looking good.
Since Monday, Peart said she’s searched both sides of the road in hopes the person who took it off the post might have just thrown it away, but to no avail. She’s called scrapyards and the police, but so far nothing has come up.
Donna said she doesn’t want to press charges or even to know who took the sign. She just wants the sign itself back.
She hopes whoever took the sign might read this story and realize how much the sign meant to her. Just maybe, they might understand and put it back.
“It just means so much,” she said.
I don't like the fact that out of this whole story, you've taken issue with a comment made here instead of focusing on what's important - a woman lost something that meant a lot to her and is hurt by it. And it doesn't matter if YOU or YOUR friends never thought of doing something like this, as the original commentor pointed out - and many others here as well - others have. So, please, keep your focus on what's important here and not your perceieved slighting in an issue which has nothing to do with you as an individual. May whoever took the sign (under 18 or above), have a change of conscious and return it in one piece to it's rightful owner to whom it means something.