Trail runner and Waukesha resident Tammy Zyduck was running her regular, 5.5-mile loop on the Scuppernong Trails in the Kettle Moraine State Forest on Sunday morning when she spotted a $500 check lying in the middle of the path.
She folded the check and put it in her backpack, planning to return it to Jeremy Mau, its intended recipient. Zyduck said she was surprised that the check, although wet from the previous night’s storms, was in near-perfect condition.
When she returned home, Zyduck noticed a few far more surprising things about the check. First, it’s nearly 26 years old, dated June 30, 1998. Second, it’s from the Apple Grove Cemetery Association in Argyle, Wis., nearly 100 miles from Scuppernong in Dousman.
Saturday night, hours before Zyduck found the check, at least five tornadoes touched down in Wisconsin, including one in Lafayette County that demolished Apple Grove Lutheran Church in Argyle. The church was “completely destroyed,” according to a post on its website from long-time pastor Dan Bohlman. Photos shared on social media showed the church razed by the storm.