By Gus Saltonstall

Edward S. Frese Jr., known as Ted, had just finished a meal with his girlfriend on December 18 at French Roast on West 85th Street and Broadway. As he walked out of the restaurant, an employee handed him his wallet, which he had momentarily misplaced.

After exiting, Frese crossed the street to make his way to Zabar’s.

“When I was in Zabar’s, I realized I didn’t have my wallet to pay for anything,” he told West Side Rag.

His first thought was that he was carrying a larger set of keys than usual and, combined with his shallow pants pockets, the wallet had most likely slipped out during the short walk. He quickly retraced his steps, but there was no sight of it.

Frese returned home to cancel his credit cards and get a new license.

What he did not know, at that point, was that a pair of nearby Con Edison employees had picked up the wallet and already begun the process of getting it back into the hands of its rightful owner.

“Often times people find a wallet and they take the money out and contact you and say there was no money in the wallet, and I was thinking that might be a possibility,” Frese said about any chance of his wallet being returned. “I was hopeful.”

Meanwhile, John Marsch, a mechanic in Transmission Operations for Con Edison, along with his partner, had picked up the wallet and were planning the best course of action to get it back to Frese.

“It was around Christmas time,” Marsch told the Rag. “I know what kind of burden it is to lose something as important as a wallet around Christmas, when you’re traveling, need your license, credit cards, money, and my partner and I wanted to make sure we got that wallet back into the right person’s hands.”

Frese’s wallet included club memberships, which Marsch reached out to and left a callback number, but after a few days a return call had not come.

Next, Marsch went online and found a number for a man with the same last name as Frese, who was living in Florida. That man ended up being Frese’s son, and, after a quick conversation, he put his father and Marsch in touch.

Frese confirmed the contents of the wallet to Marsch, who subsequently told him he would mail it his way.

“We work for Con Ed, so we’re out there in the streets, trying to serve the public. More than just putting wires together [and] keeping the electricity going, we try to do the right thing and help people out,” Marsch told West Side Rag. “If I lost my wallet, I’d want somebody to get it back to me.”

The saga didn’t end there, though.

Due to a mistake by UPS, the wallet ended up taking an accidental journey to California. Marsch continued to call Frese and the postal service to make sure the wallet eventually reached the right place. After two weeks, it finally made it to Frese’s home in New York City.

The only problem? Frese wasn’t there. He had traveled down to Florida to spend the holidays with his family!

Frese returned to the city in the beginning of January to find his wallet waiting for him — with all the money and cards still there. Marsch called again once Frese made it back home to confirm that he had gotten the wallet.

“It’s really extraordinary in my opinion, that he [Marsch] took the time to try to find me, because there wasn’t a phone number to immediately reach me with,” Frese said about the experience. “And then, to send it to me. There was still money in it when it got to me, as well as all of the cards.”

“How often does that happen?” he asked.

On Thursday, Frese met Marsch in person near French Roast to properly thank the longtime Con Edison employee in person (photo above).

“Really extraordinary,” Frese repeated.

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