Sacramentan buys old vinyl 45s, finds out they were his mom's

Found this story fascinating, and wanted to share it. Amazing stuff, these records!

By Gina Kim

The lick-on label was unmistakable. Paul Campfield was reading his mother's name and the address of his childhood San Lorenzo home.

And it meant the old records he picked up for $2 at a Sutter Creek antique shop had once belonged to her, although she died in Redding in 1979.

What are the chances?

The 68-year-old Sacramento man never knew what came of his record collection owned by his mother, May O. Rainey. He simply remembered how they fit into slots in a compartment beneath the oak RCA Victor console with the automatic turntable.

"It's just a thrill, a genuine thrill," said Campfield, a retired engineering technician. "I think my mother is still with me."

It was just the two of them – a mom and 4-year-old son who left Redding for an Alameda housing project in 1944 when his mother got a job as a secretary for a naval officer.

Campfield remembers when she brought home his soon-to-be stepfather, Fred Rainey, a World War II veteran with a penchant for double-breasted suits whom she'd met at a church dance.

"Mom introduced us and he put out his hand and my hand was swallowed up in his," Campfield recalled.

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SOURCE: www.sacbee.com