Advertisement

St. Petersburg man stayed connected to grandfather through battered old canoe, until it was stolen

 
Brad Stigleman, 38, of Clearwater, is pictured with his daughter Aubrey in his grandfather's canoe. [Photo courtesy of Brad Stigleman]
Brad Stigleman, 38, of Clearwater, is pictured with his daughter Aubrey in his grandfather's canoe. [Photo courtesy of Brad Stigleman]
Published Sept. 24, 2015

ST. PETERSBURG — In December, Brad Stigleman propped his battered old canoe behind his in-laws' home in Feather Sound, right beside a pond perfect for fishing.

He thought it'd be safe there.

Then Sunday morning, as the 38-year-old walked out of church, his phone buzzed with a text message that tightened his gut.

"Your canoe is gone?" his father-in-law wrote.

"Are you kidding me?" Stigleman wrote back.

Old and dented, the Grumman aluminum canoe wasn't much to look at and probably not worth more than $50. He could get a much nicer one for less than $200.

But it wouldn't be the same.

That canoe had been in his family for six decades, an adventure vessel that first belonged to his grandfather, Jacob Wankmuller, carrying him through the Adirondack Mountains on camping trips and shielding him from rain storms on tentless nights.

At least that's how the story went.

Later, during summer visits to Indiana, it carried grandfather and grandson together.

Their last cast-off was in the 1990s, when Stigleman was a teenager and Wankmuller was in his 80s. By then, his mind was already fading, but they spent a day exploring the waterways of Weedon Island together.

Not long after, Wankmuller died.

"It was probably one of the last activities we ever did together," Stigleman said. "Before the canoe was stolen, I hadn't thought about that trip in 15 years."

The rush of memories, and his desire to make more with his own two children, left him feeling nostalgic. On Monday morning, Stigleman searched for a photo of him and his daughter, Aubrey, in the canoe. It was from a trip to the Alafia River in Tampa almost five years ago. They caught a turtle. Aubrey, now 9, still talks about it.

Stigleman posted the picture to Facebook and attached a desperate plea.

"Hey everyone, I'm looking for some help. My canoe was stolen from behind my in-laws' house in Feather Sound sometime in the last 2 weeks (I just discovered it missing yesterday). Whoever took it probably thought it was just a beat up old canoe that no one would really miss… but that's not the case," he wrote. "As angry as I am that someone stole it, I'm not looking for vengeance or retribution or even justice, I only want my canoe back."

He told his wife Lindsey that he knew the chances he'd track down the canoe were slim, but he had to try.

"It's just a beat up old canoe, but every time I get in, it's my granddad," Stigleman told the Times. "I wanted to be able to take my kids out and say: 'This was my granddad's canoe.'"

Stigleman named his infant son after his grandfather, a "renaissance man" who knew a little bit about everything, he said. Wankmuller was an engineer and could fix anything. He was deeply religious.

"He spent a lot of time with me," Stigleman said.

More than 70 people shared his post on Facebook, giving him a boost of hope that it might pop into the right person's newsfeed. And because his in-laws' home was under renovation when the canoe disappeared, his mother-in-law asked the contractor to spread the word among his staff.

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter

We’ll deliver the latest news and information you need to know every morning.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Later Monday, Stigleman loaded up his daughter in the car and drove to his in-laws' house to hand out fliers about the canoe.

As they approached the driveway, he noticed a large object shoved in the neighbor's front yard.

"There's the canoe!"

It looked pristine, Stigleman said, and the paddles and anchor were still inside.

"I think they even washed it," he said.

Stigleman has no idea who took it, or who brought it back. He doesn't really care.

"My hope is that somebody saw that Facebook post and related to it on a personal level and had some empathy," he said.

Before his canoe was returned, Stigleman said he found a replica online for about $200. He said he is thinking about buying it anyway, putting it in his in-laws' front yard and posting a sign that reads:

"Thank you for returning mine. Take this one."

Contact Katie Mettler at kmettler@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3446. Follow @kemettler.