Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Bible finds way home from Colorado

Some 33 years ago, Alice Cottingham and her family moved to Arkansas from Colorado. There was nothing exceptional about the move  except that Cottingham had left behind a Bible.

She really didnt realize it was missing. On the rare occasion she thought of it, she assumed it had been packed away somewhere following the move.

What actually happened was that the Bible remained on the pew at the Brighton, Colo., church until a secretary named Sylvia Tidquist realized it contained family information.

She then started asking around but no one seemed to know where the Cottinghams had moved.

Years passed and Tidquist just happened to run an Internet search for one of the names in the Bible, Billy Ray Cottingham. Billy Ray is Alices husband and he passed away on Jan. 22, 2008. Tidquists search brought up his obituary and led her to his church affiliation. Apparently not knowing what else to do, she sent the Bible to the church.

The letter Tidquist included in the package indicated the search for Alice Cottingham and her family. The letter read, in part, I have something I think belongs to her.

The moment Cottingham saw the Bible, she remembered where shed seen it last.

And then?

I bawled, she said. I cried. I couldnt say anything.

Two of Cottinghams daughters, Jawana Kirkpatrick and Pam Smith, said the Bible came at a time when their mother needed something positive.

It brought a sense of peace, Kirkpatrick said.

This is what she needed, Smith said.