Terri Reuvers loves what history has left behind.

“I, like my father, am obsessed with vintage things,” she smiles.

In the garage of her Faribault home, there are items from a bygone era in wood, glass and fabric.

“To me, it’s history, but it makes it more real to have a tangible item,” Reuvers notes.

But on her kitchen table is the real treasure trove and a military mystery.

A World War One-era plaque issued by Disabled American Veterans to Michael J. Mahoney.

“I thought, this is so outstanding, I want to make sure it goes to the family of the person,” Reuvers says. “I just thought that’s a pretty rare find and to just find it in this little box of trinkets, you know, I was pretty inspired to seek out who it might belong to.”

Everything on that table was discovered by her late father, Ludwig Koktavy, an avid antique collector, including a World War Two-era pension check to Charles Mahoney, who may or may not be related.

Reuvers hopes sharing these finds will lead to surviving family members who may want them.  

“She gets obsessed, and she follows through when she starts something, she takes it all the way through,” Reuvers’s husband Francis explains. “And I hope she finds the family.”

So far, internet and social media searches have turned up nothing.

“There are all kinds of items on the Reuvers’s table: ID cards, receipts and addresses on old pieces of paper.

For her, these are more than historical documents.

They’re windows into past lives.

“It’s so rare to find things that are this old,” Reuvers says. “To just come across things by happenstance is just fascinating.”

On the plaque, there are some clues: Mahoney belonged to Minnesota DAV Chapter One, based in Minneapolis, and there’s a serial number on the front: 5441.

“I’ve been doing the same thing, trying to a needle in a haystack, trying to keep the legacy, keep the memories going,” says Butch Whitehead, adjutant with DAV Minnesota. “So going back and connecting the dots, we don’t want to say ‘No, we couldn’t find the family members,’ until we start trying and see if we find a connection for this family.”

He says the DAV of Minnesota is checking its records about both Mahoney men from World War One and World War Two.  

“He served during a time of very historical conflicts our country served in,” Whitehead explains. “To be able to connect these two and bring their stories to our next generation, it’s great.”

For her part, Reuvers says she’s looking for answers and hopes for a connection to family members who would treasure these items from the past century.     

“These things happen all the time; we look at it as coincidence, but I have a different version,” she notes. “I think it’s divine intervention or something.”