Staff Photo by John Rawlston John Hanson talks about the process through which he was able to acquire the missing Bible of his wife's missionary father, Ernest T. Gackenheimer, lost decades ago. A missionary in Chile found the Bible in a store in Chile, located the family through an internet search, and shipped it to them.
Sixty years ago, E.T. Gackenheimer laid his preaching Bible on top of his car and drove off, not realizing what he'd done until he got out of the car, ready to give a sermon.
The Bible probably was lost on the Caribbean island of Barbados, but it could've been in Africa or on the islands of Trinidad or Jamaica, since he preached in all those places, say his daughters, now in their 70s.
But the Bible is back in the family's hands. Late last month -- 20 years to the month after Mr. Gackenheimer died -- it was returned to the family, a gift from a stranger who found it in a dusty stack of books in Chile.
"To me, it was like a piece of him had come back," said Beverly Holweger, his 74-year-old daughter, who lives in Chatsworth, Ga.
Having the Bible back is "very meaningful, very emotional," said Audrey Henson, his 76-year-old daughter, who lives in Ringgold, Ga.
When the two women were teenagers, they lived on the island of Barbados in the eastern Caribbean, where their father was a missionary. It was one of the many countries where the Seventh-day Adventist preacher lived and worked, and it may be the place where Mr. Gackenheimer lost his preaching Bible.
"I remember my dad telling me that he lost his Bible off the top of the car," Mrs. Holweger said. "He was going to preach a sermon, he forgot it was there, drove off and it got lost."
"I felt like it was lost in Barbados," Mrs. Holweger said, although family members said they are not sure when or where it disappeared.
Stephanie Garcia, a Baptist missionary in Chile, recently stopped at a "dusty little store full of a drab assortment of American gadgets," she wrote in a June 8 blog entry. As she looked through the items, one caught her eye -- a leather-bound Bible with a name written inside in cursive -- E.T. Gackenheimer.
ON THE WEB
To read Stephanie Garcia's blog about finding the lost Bible, visit http://garcias2chile.blogspot.com
She didn't buy the book immediately, but when she got home, she searched the Internet for more details.
"Imagine my surprise when I returned home to do a Google search and found a story dedicated to the Reverend E.T. Gackenheimer and his life and ministry," Mrs. Garcia wrote.
Mrs. Garcia found a contact for the Gackenheimer's family and ultimately got in touch.
Mrs. Garcia took pictures of the Bible and sent them to the family. A scratch on the front and the distinctive signature confirmed it. Mrs. Garcia shipped it to the family, which is now looking for a way to preserve it.
For Mrs. Henson and Mrs. Holweger and their younger brother, Drew Gackenheimer, who lives in Florida, having their father's Bible is very special.
"As a child, I was just completely in love with my daddy," Mrs. Holweger said. "If he would sit on the sofa, I was right beside him."
Family members said they can't help but wonder where the Bible has been and whom it has touched. But they know that they've been touched by Mrs. Garcia's efforts.
"What I think is significant is, No. 1, that she decided this Bible belonged to a minister, in this heap of books, and they were dirty and everything," Mrs. Henson said. "And then the very fact that she would try to find the person that had this Bible."
