The setting of this story begins at an old theater. The old theater was built in 1928; it was a movie house called the Circle Theater.

Larry Sloan, the current owner of the theater, was having some renovations done last February. 
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This is what the theater looked like:

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One of his workers John Furman noticed something odd while in the bathroom. He told Ames Tribune, "I looked up in the rafters and could see something sticking out." 

That's when the wallet was discovered in upper-level floorboards. 

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Fortunately, the wallet also contained an ID card with contact information, so Sloan decided to make a call. 

It turns out Clare McIntosh lost his wallet at the movie theater 71 years ago. He was 14 years old and it was a special wallet, made of plastic and full of personal treasures including photos of his family, a pocket calendar, and his Boy Scout card. 

When that call actually came, however, McIntosh thought it was a joke. He told the caller that he hadn't lost a wallet. After 71 years, McIntosh was completely surprised to get a call from the theater's current owner informing him that his wallet had been found... the same plastic wallet he had lost in 1945.

The pocket calendar was dated from the 1940s, but the biggest clue for Sloan was on the ID card. "His telephone number was 8," Sloan told the Ames Tribune. Just 8. "I get a kick out of that every time I say it," Sloan said.

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The old theater is now a comedy club called the Talent Factory and bills itself as the place "where history and entertainment meet." That's especially true for Clare McIntosh, 85, whose boyhood trip to the movies became a heartwarming story of doing the right thing, even after 71 years.