PASS CHRISTIAN, Miss. (WLOX) — Imagine walking into a flea market and finding something you believe is a message from your late father.
That’s just what happened for a man who made a special trip to the Flea Market at Menge.
Kelly Dial makes people happy by collecting and selling things from the past in her shop, Kelly’s Korner.
“You can find just about anything,” said Dial. “I love old bottles, mason jars. These are old calendars from the 1930s. I love old paperwork. It could be anything. It could be letters or report cards.”
Report cards led Frank Aymami III from New Orleans into the shop.
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“My dad’s been on my mind lately, and this was kind of like him saying, ‘I’m here,’” said Aymami. “That’s how I look at it.”
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A family friend of Aymami’s visited Kelly’s Korner the week before the Fourth of July. She picked up some old report cards and recognized a name.
“She went right here, took the whole stack and was taking photos,” said Dial.
The friend contacted Aymami right away. He made the hourlong trip to the Menge exit as soon as he could.
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“I said, ‘This is my dad’s stuff right here,’” said Aymami.
“I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’” described Dial.
“I said ‘I promise. I’ll show you,’” said Aymami. “I showed her my license, and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’”
“He was in shock,” said Dial. “I was in shock.”
“Then, she told everybody who came in her shop about it,” said Aymami. “She said, ‘You see these right here? That’s his son right there.’”
“It was meant for him,” said Dial. “It’s been here in here a while.”
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Aymami’s father passed away in 2013. Recently, Aymami has been dealing with costly construction issues with his home.
“I’ve been spending a lot of money on this and asking for guidance,” he said. “’Tell me I’m doing the right thing spending money on this.’ That actually happened on Saturday night, and Sunday, I drove out to the flea market to find the report cards.”
Aymami found six of his father’s report cards from the 1940s, including from his junior year.
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“I’m about 99% sure that that was his last year in high school before he went into the military.”
Aymami’s father dropped out of school and joined the Navy. He served as an aerial photographer during the Korean War.
“He was the wisest man I’ve ever known.”
However, report cards show his father struggled in school. Aymami says that context only deepens his admiration.
“He wasn’t a proficient student. Neither was I. Looking at that helped me understand a bit more [about] the direction he took. Him going into the Navy taught him life skills to become a success in his own right.”
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Dial isn’t sure how she got the report cards. She often shops estate sales and thinks that’s likely where she found them. Frank is just glad he found this connection to his father.
“Somehow, he’s always managed to comfort me anytime I needed, ever since he passed, so I’m extremely grateful for that.”
Aymami plans to include the report cards in a family scrapbook to share with his two siblings. He also wants his three children to have a piece of their grandfather’s story for years to come."
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