A Guelph woman who recently had her car broken into is seeking the public’s help to recover a stolen jacket that once belonged to her late father.
The blue Columbia windbreaker was stolen from the parking lot of an apartment complex near The Boathouse in Guelph, said Emma Nip.
“I woke up in the morning and went to my car — it was completely trashed — everything had been taken out of the glove compartment and thrown on the ground,” said Emma.
“At the time I didn’t realize what was missing because there was just stuff everywhere — then I realized one thing they took was my dad’s jacket.”
Emma kept the two-tone blue jacket in her car because she often used it while walking dogs. There was nothing of value in the pockets.
“I would never leave my laptop or my wallet in my car, but the jacket is something I would use all of the time,” said Emma. “It’s not something I ever thought would be stolen.”
The jacket is about 30 years old and was worn all over the world by her father Nelson Nip before his death almost nine years ago when Emma was 16 years old.
In a Facebook post, Emma attached a photo of her father wearing it while posing with some camels in Jordan.
“I had Facebook friends commenting that they remembered him wearing that jacket. It was one of the things, when I picture my dad, he was always wearing,” said Emma. “That jacket went everywhere with us and it kind of represents my childhood and growing up with him.”
Because of its age and condition, Emma said she is puzzled as to why anyone would take it.
“It’s kind of ratty on the inside. You can tell it’s an old jacket and that it's been worn a lot,” she said. “There’s nothing valuable in it — I assume they took it because they thought there might be cash in the pockets.”
She said it is difficult for her to broadcast personal details about her loss on social media, but is hoping it will lead to her recovering the jacket.
Emma said she has informed the second hand stores in Guelph to watch out for it being donated and is asking for the jacket to be returned to the lost and found at Guelph City Hall.
“We were trying to think of the best place that someone could drop it off with no questions asked,” she said.
