HALIFAX -- A Halifax woman was reunited with her favourite necklace on Tuesday -- but this is no ordinary piece of jewelry.
It contained the ashes of her daughter, Amy, who had a bright smile, loved a good party, and left behind a large family. She was just 44 when she died suddenly.
"She had what they call congenital artery disease, which no one knew until it takes you," said Judy LeBlanc.
Judy has pictures and mementos of her daughter around her home, but none closer to her heart than the locket filled with Amy's ashes.
This past weekend, Judy went to see her grandson play in a hockey game, but when she came home, there was no locket on the chain around her neck.
"When I noticed my chain hanging down, when I took my coat off, without the locket, I of course figured it was inside of my clothes somewhere, so I checked and shook everything out, and called them to check the car and we couldn't find it anywhere," LeBlanc said.
Together with her sister, Kelly, Judy searched high and low.
"It's the value, it's the memory," said Kelly Benedict. "It obviously means a lot to Judy. It means a lot to all of us."
They went to the hockey rink and had neighbours at her apartment building looking.
"It's unbelievable how people will join together and put out a search when something is important to somebody," Benedict said.
Then, Judy posted on Facebook.
The post was shared nearly 600 times.
It was a show of support for a mother, searching for a small piece of her daughter's memory.
"It felt like I left her out in the cold," LeBlanc said. "I never went out without that necklace on. I just didn't."
Then, Tuesday morning, a call came in.
A neighbour had been searching outside, and found the locket in the grass.
"I know it's not her, but for some reason I feel like I have to kiss her goodnight when I take it off," LeBlanc said. "It's just routine for the last year-and-a-half."
Now, Judy has a piece of Amy back -- and a community of friends and family to thank.
