[ad_1]
Stephen Mills insists that he had no strategy to try to open the Vermilion Heritage Museum's locked safe, which museum staff had not been able to open for more than 40 years.
"I just took his numbers by magic and I told him OK, let's do 20, 60, 40, "he told Global News in an interview.
Mills and his family are regular campers. During the long Victoria Day weekend, he, his wife and two children, his brother-in-law and two children, as well as his in-laws, ventured to Vermilion, Alberta, on a camping.
Mills family during their visit to Vermilion. – Stephen Mills.
"Wherever we go camping in Alberta or BC, we generally learn that, as in all small towns [has] something that is interesting, right?
After a quick Google search, the Vermilion Heritage Museum appeared and, on the second day of their stay in town, the group decided to visit him.
Upon arriving at the museum, however, they discovered that it was closed. After calling the city, they brought one of the museum's volunteers, Tom Kibblewhite. Kibblewhite, who went to school in the building located on the property of the Vermilion Museum, eventually offered the family a private tour of the estate.
"It was almost an honor to have someone, an elderly man, who did this tour. He knows all the ins and outs of this city, he has lived an extraordinary life. Explained Mills.
Vermilion Museum in Alberta. – Stephen Mills.
Stephen Mills
Finally, the safe was donated to the Vermilion Museum. At that time, the staff went on several tracks to unlock it. After contacting a locksmith and the original manufacturer of the safe, they gave up. It has been locked for more than 40 years.
Mills, 36, joked that the safe was locked longer than he was alive – until a fateful day in 2019.
READ MORE:
GO Calgary's McKenzie Lake converted to Normandy for D-Day Heritage Day
"I just knelt and listened and I could hear him moving in the interior, " Mills said. "I said, let's do 20, 40, 60. As a typical combination lock, three times to the right, twice to the left, and of course, the handle has turned and it's open."
"I got up and told myself," I'm buying a lottery ticket, "he said.
In the background, he could hear his children screaming with excitement.
"We beat?", They asked repeatedly. Mills responded enthusiastically, "Yes, we beat him."
WATCH: Calgary's McKenzie Lake Turned into Normandy for D-Day Heritage Day
Inside the safe, there were only two receipts, a waitress cushion and an old check, but that did not stop the moment.
The story, originally published by the Vermilion Standard, has been picked up around the world, including CNN, The Washington Post, and The Guardian in London.
However, none of this compares to the news that Mills received from the museum's board chairman, Jean Murie, on Thursday night as he returned home after work, he said. As the museum was about to close, the new ad from the visit could help boost the heritage building.
Tom Kibblewhite shows the Mills family around the Vermilion Museum. – Stephen Mills
Stephen Mills
"The chairman of Vermilion's board of directors, the museum, called me to thank me … because their museum was about to be unable to do it," Mills said. "She said it's going to give them the boost to restart it."
The family plans to visit the museum and the town of Vermilion next July, but this time with the parents of Mills.
© 2019 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
[ad_2]
Source link
