The Courier | JEAN Wallis thought she would never see her late husband's Henderson Medal again.
Stan Wallis' medal for winning the 1952 Ballarat Football League best and fairest had been missing for more than two years and the whole family had presumed it gone forever.
Until a miracle discovery last week.
The medal surfaced at the Salvation Army Ballarat Community Church op shop, but its owner remained a mystery.
As soon as granddaughter Marlee Wallis saw an article in The Courier, however, she knew the prized item had finally been found.
In a touching moment on Monday, the Ballarat Football League returned the medal to Jean, aged 87.
"We all thought it was gone, we had no idea where it was," Mrs Wallis said.
"Stan was always thrilled to have the medal, he was thrilled to be recognised."
Although he was equal league best and fairest in 1952, Stan Wallis was always considered to have finished runner-up on a countback.
It was only in 2010 that the BFL decided to retrospectively award medals to those who had finished equal first in the vote counts.
Wallis was aged 82 when was finally awarded the medal, but due to the onset of dementia, forgot he had placed it in one of his jacket pockets.
After passing away in March, 2013, his family got around to donating his old clothes late last year.
However, it was not until last week that the medal finally surfaced when discovered by op shop manager Anne Hardy.
"I knew it was his as soon as we saw a medal had been found," Marlee said.
"After all, how many lost Henderson Medals are there?"
Stan Wallis spent all of his playing days in the BFL with the Ballarat Swans, also called up to play seven senior VFL matches with Footscray in 1947 and 1948.
He retired from play at the age of 28 by continued to coach Ballarat, Redan, Wendouree, East Ballarat and Bungaree.
So what to do with the medal now?
Mrs Wallis has already hung it on a framed photo of her late husband, where it will now stay forever.
As son, David, aptly put it: "thank god for the Salvos".
