SIOUX CITY -- For more than 50 years, the identification tags of a U.S. Navy sailor sat on top of a dresser in Alvin Kay's bedroom.
Kay had uncovered the tags -- bearing the name of "D.W. Tooker" -- in a pile of dirt delivered to his Morningside home back in the early 1970s.
"The dirt was for my backyard garden," he said. "Sifting through the dirt, I saw something shiny and it turned out to be ID tags."
Kay knew that the gold, oval-shaped tags must've belong to World War II-era serviceman.
"I was in the Korean War but my two older brothers fought in WWII," the now 91-year-old Kay explained. "So, I knew a thing or two about dog tags."
However, he didn't know how to reach D.W. Tooker's family in order to return the long-lost property.
People are also reading... 3 burning questions for Iowa football: When does Ferentz walk away? Micky's Irish Pub to open in former Ruby's location in Davenport The latest on Lucy Olsen as Iowa women ready for battle of unbeatens in Champions Classic Women working at massage spa arrested on prostitution charges Iowa State running back Jaylon Jackson arrested on OWI charge 'Tear down this gate:' Cyclists continue push after Riverdale committee fails to find alternate route Davenport ranks 43rd in US News best places to live 3 Takeaways from Iowa men's basketball win over Northwestern: Hawks give Cats déjà vu Bowl projections for Iowa State football after Big 12 Championship Newton explains abstention at heart of Davenport riverfront hotel project rejection Allegiant announces new flight for Quad-Cities travelers Anthony L. "Tony" Maldonado Q-C pipeline helps power Grand View's success Pending Death Notices for the Quad-Cities, Dec. 5, 2024 Barbara Ann Cutkomp
And this is why the ID tags of a complete stranger sat on Kay's dresser for half-a-century.
On the lookout for D.W. Tooker
That is until Loni Kuhlmann, executive director of Woodbury County's Department of Veterans Affairs, entered the picture.
"A while back, Alvin brought in the tags to show my associate Lisa Robinson and myself," she said. "Alvin wanted to see if we could help him track down Mr. Tooker's family, so he could return them."
Kuhlmann recognized that the tags weren't the type that was worn around a servicemember's neck.
"No, these were boot tags," she explained. "You can tell by the two eyelets that could be attached to somebody's boots."
Solving a decades-old mystery
"I figured if anybody could solve this mystery, I knew the VA could," Kay reasoned. "They had access to information a regular person wouldn't have."
So, did Kuhlmann utilize the investigative power of the U.S. government for her search? Not exactly. She mostly relied on Facebook and Ancestry.com.
"We knew that there was a Merrill, Iowa, resident named Dwight Warren Tooker, who joined the U.S. Navy in 1941," Kuhlmann said. "Through Ancestry.com, we uncovered an obituary for Mr. Tooker's widow Dorothy. Looking at the names of survivors, I then contacted Dwight and Dorothy's daughter on my personal Facebook page."
Mary Anne Tooker Darrow, a retired surgical nurse living in Ellijay, Georgia, was surprised to receive a Facebook message from Kuhlmann. She was even more shocked that her dad's ID tags were found after so many years.
"The V.A. office told me that Mr. Kay wanted to return my dad's old tags" Darrow explained. "When Mr. Kay contacted me, I told him he was an angel. That's because I knew nothing of my dad's war years."
A farm boy from Merrill, Iowa
Indeed, Dwight Warren Tooker was a farm boy of 19 when he went into the Navy, about five months before Pearl Harbor.
"Dad served for five years, which was a long time, and, apparently, saw a lot of action," Darrow said.
Tooker left the U.S. Navy with an honorable discharge in 1946. But, according to his daughter, he experienced post-traumatic stress disorder for many years after that.
Life after the war
"The war was simply a closed chapter in my dad's life," Darrow said. "He never discussed it and never looked back."
Instead, Tooker met and married the former Dorothy Annabelle Rath. The two of them eventually left Northwest Iowa, moving to Oklahoma, which was where Dorothy was originally from.
The Tookers raised a family with four sons and three daughters, including Darrow.
Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts
"We lived in a house with three bedrooms, one bathroom and seven kids," Darrow said with a chuckle. "That was interesting."
Still, the family was happy.
"My dad worked on the railroad and was, for a time, an orderly in a hospital," Darrow said. "He then went to work for the parks department in Oklahoma City. Dad loved working outdoors and took care of the historic garden in the city's Will Rogers Garden."
His wife Dorothy Tooker, on the other hand, wanted to work with people. A longtime nursing assistant, she eventually went back to school at age 42 to be become a licensed practical nurse.
Darrow must've taken after her mom. Now 70, she is, herself, a retired surgical nurse.
When Dwight Tooker died in 2001, he and his wife had been married for nearly 50 years.
A connection between strangers
Alvin Kay can relate to long marriage.
A Holstein, Iowa, native, he married his high school sweetheart Donna Rae Green in 1954. When she died in 2023, the couple had been wed for 68 years.
Kay spent nearly 30 years, working for IPS (now MidAmerican Energy) while his wife worked at JC Penney for nearly 15 years.
The Kays has a son Keith, who died at birth, and a daughter Shari, who died more than a decade ago. They also have a son Kevin, who lives in Bronson, and a daughter Sandy, who lives in Sioux City.
"When Mary Anne told me her dad never talked about the war, I could relate," Kay said. "I was drafted right after high school. I did my time (during the Korean Conflict) and, then, went on with the rest of my life."
Despite that, Kay knew the significance that ID tags had on the serviceperson who wore it.
"I think that's why I kept the ID tags on my dresser for such a long time," he said. "I knew they'd get into the right hands eventually."
Soon, the long-lost boot tags belonging to Dwight Warren Tooker will be in the mail for his daughter to keep.
"We have the American flag that honored my dad's military service and, now, will have his World War II tags," Darrow said. "I can't help but think this is my dad's way of saying he wanted us to have it."
Keeping memories alive
After all, Darrow had never been to Iowa.
"I was born in Kansas City, while most of my siblings were born in Oklahoma," she said. "Nowadays, I live about an hour north of Atlanta, Georgia, which is a long way from Sioux City."
But Darrow felt a connection to Kay.
"Military service meant something to people of my dad's generation and that of Mr. Kay's," she said. "They may gotten on with their lives but their service mattered."
Kay simply wanted to do the right thing.
"I'm not getting any younger," he said. "I wanted to make sure that Mr. Tooker's ID tags made their way back to his family while I still had the chance."
A time of renewal
It has been about a year-and-a-half since Donna Kay passed away and her husband still misses her.
"My dad loves to grow vegetables in his backyard garden," their daughter Sandy Schmeckpeper said. "My mom would always can whatever my dad grew that season."
Mary Anne Darrow couldn't help but smile after hearing this.
"Both of my parents were Depression-era kids," she said. "They were very conservative with their money and, like Mr. Kay, my dad was also a gardener."
"I don't know how my dad's ID turned up in a pile of dirt," Darrow added. "I just thank God the tags were in good hands with Mr. Kay."
0 Comments Love 0 Funny 0 Wow 0 Sad 0 Angry 0
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.