OMAHA — Jennifer Eno had just clocked into work at her Omaha office when a construction worker appeared at her door holding a dusty pink wallet.
The man had been cutting through cinder blocks in the basement of the office building at 84th and Dodge streets. Inside one of the blocks, he found the pink wallet.
Now the man didn't know what to do with it. Would Eno mind taking it?
"Absolutely not," Eno remembers telling the man. "I'll take it and see if I can't find the rightful owner."
When Eno opened the wallet on that morning in April 2021, she found old school photos, a prayer booklet and a student ID for a Ronnette Smith from St. Richard Catholic School in Omaha.
It was enough information for Eno to begin searching for Smith on the internet.
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“It had a rightful owner and I just wanted to find who it belonged to," Eno said in a recent interview. "Obviously, it meant something to someone at one point in time. There were a lot of photos in there."
Eno, who worked in real estate at the time, is known for her tenacity and refusal to let things go.
“It’s a curse and a gift,†she said.
There were a few false leads including one conversation with a confused man but Eno tracked down Smith's phone number and left her a voicemail. She also reached out on Facebook.
Smith, who grew up in Omaha and now lives in Atlanta, Georgia, was shocked when she got the messages but yes, she confirmed, that was her wallet.Â
“I didn’t remember actually losing it or missing it but I do remember the wallet," Smith said. "I remember everything in it. I remember the people."
Smith said many of the photos were from her 1981 eighth grade class at St. Richard. The school, which was near 42nd and Fort streets, closed in 2009.
“The pictures in the wallet brought back so many memories from my childhood," Smith said. "Looking at my belongings from eighth grade gave me chills. I thought it was miraculous. It had no money in the wallet, but the pictures were priceless."
Neither Smith or Eno have any idea how the wallet ended up in the cinder block. Eno took a video of where the wallet was found and sent it to Smith but that's one part of the mystery that has never been solved.Â
Eno mailed the wallet back to Smith, texting her shipping updates as it made its journey from Omaha to Atlanta.Â
Smith was amazed at how much effort Eno put into returning the wallet.
“She did not have to go out of her way," Smith said. "She went completely out of her way to do that.â€
When Smith got the wallet, she took a photo of it in her mailbox and sent it to Eno. Smith said, despite the wallet being missing for four decades, the photos and the wallet itself were in excellent shape.Â
Smith and Eno's interaction could have ended there but instead the two women kept chatting. They talked about their families, their interests and hobbies. They exchanged cards and gifts.
"I've never had a friendship click that quickly," Eno said. "I've never just felt close to somebody like that."
When Smith and Eno talk about the beginning of their friendship, both women said it feels like they were destined to meet.
"We don't know each other," Smith said. "And a wallet, something lost, brings us together and we end up loving each other."Â
Last year, Eno and Smith met in person for the first time when Smith made a trip back to Omaha. They met at Lewis and Clark Landing in downtown Omaha and talked for hours.Â
Smith told Eno about how she was back in town to help her mother move from Omaha to Atlanta. Eno told Smith she wanted to help.Â
“She said, ‘I just want to be here for you,’†Smith remembered.Â
Smith told Eno before they even met, Eno had been there for her.
Eno and her husband helped Smith move her mom. And Smith mailed Christmas presents last year to Eno's grandson.Â
Smith, who is CEO of a nonprofit that aims to help level the playing field for students in Atlanta’s underserved communities, said she sees parallels between the work she does for kids and what Eno did for her.
“Sometimes we all need to stop and remember that the kind things we do have more of an impact on others than we think,†Smith said.
Smith and Eno have marveled at all the ways they could've never met. The construction worker could've given the wallet to someone else or thrown it away. Eno could've found the wrong Smith.
But once the wallet brought them together, Eno said they just connected.
"She’s such an amazing woman,†Eno said of Smith.
"She’s a special, special person and I’ve grown to love her," Smith said. "Things in life, we just don’t know what doors will open.â€