Anguish Over Lost Plaque

When Laurie Cancellieri called this newspaper on Monday to report that a memorial plaque in honor of her son on a teak bench at the eastern Ditch Plain Beach was missing and presumably stolen, she had no idea the plaque would be returned before the issue went to print. But she did have a clue.

Max Cancellieri took his own life in 2007 when he was 18 years old. Devastated, Ms. Cancellieri donated the bench with the plaque attached. “Think Happy Thoughts,” it read.

The plaque went missing over the weekend. The family first noticed it on Sunday. Ms. Cancellieri, who is married to Rick Gibbs of Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe, put out a message on social media asking for help in finding it.

On Tuesday, she met with a reporter for a picture at the site, which is a popular gathering place for locals and surfers. She said that when Max was a youngster he loved to fool her by making things disappear and then leading her on wild hunts through the house to look for the missing items. When a hunt was over, the item would mysteriously reappear in a very obvious place, and he would have good laugh.

As Ms. Cancellieri was leaving the beach, she met a friend, Dalton Portella, a surfer and artist, and told him the plaque was missing. He said that he and John Chimples, another surfer, had found it sitting on the bench, minus its screws, the night before. Not realizing that she was looking for it, Mr. Chimples took it home to spruce it up and find new screws to reattach it, Mr. Portella said.

With tears in her eyes, she turned to a friend and said, “I knew it would show up.”