Friday, July 11, 2003

Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG — A bottle found bobbing in a canal 19 years after it was tossed into the Gulf of Mexico is bringing comfort to an Ohio family grieving the loss of the son who set it adrift.

Don Smith, left, gives Lisa Ferguson, right, a bottle and note, Tuesday, July 8, 2003, at a restaurant in Indian Rocks, Fla. The bottle and note were written 19 years ago by Ferguson's son, Roger Clay, who tossed into the Gulf of Mexico when he was a child. The tape-sealed bottle was found behind Smith's Venetian Isles, Fla., home on the Fourth of July. Clay died five years ago in a motorcycle accident on July 10, 1998, shortly after his 21st birthday. Chris Zuppa/Associated Press

The bottle was found behind the Venetian Isles home of Don Smith on the Fourth of July, it's top sealed tightly with black electrical tape.

Inside, a note scorched sepia by the sun read: "To whoever finds this letter please write me a letter and let me know," the note said in shaky pencil. "Roger J. Clay, 890 Linwood Ave., Fairfield Ohio, 45014."

The note was dated Dec. 27, 1984. The author was 7 years old.

Smith set out to find the boy who wrote the note, eventually enlisting the help of the St. Petersburg Times, the newspaper reported in Thursday's editions.

The newspaper was able to trace Roger Clay's identity, only to find out that he had died nine days after his 21st birthday in a motorcycle accident.

The accident happened on July 10, 1998. Five years ago Thursday

Lisa Ferguson holds a photo of her son, Roger Clay, taken when he was a senior in high school, Tuesday, July 8, 2003, at a restaurant in Indian Rocks, Fla. When Clay was a child, he wrote a note, placed it in a bottle and tossed into the Gulf of Mexico in 1984. The tape-sealed bottle was found behind Venetian Isles, Fla., home of Don Smith on the Fourth of July. The note and bottle were given to Ferguson by Smith. Clay died in a motorcycle accident on July 10, 1998, shortly after his 21st birthday. Chris Zuppa/Associated Press

 "I just had this feeling something had happened to that kid," Smith told the newspaper, adding he was even more determined to find the young man's parents. "Imagine what that message would mean to them."
Several telephone calls later, Roger Clay's mother, Lisa Ferguson, was found — vacationing in nearby Seminole.
"Here I am, trying to escape Roger's death, and he reaches out and gives me this message, this gift," she said.

Smith met Ferguson on Tuesday to return the bottle. Marine scientists said there's no way of knowing how far the bottle floated before being found on the opposite side of the Pinellas County peninsula from where it was launched.
"I had forgotten all about that bottle. It's kind of hard to put into words, all the emotions that brings back," father Roger K. Clay said. "I told Lisa, it was like he was trying to remind us he was still with us."
"I dread this time of year every year. It's the worst," Ferguson said. "But now I have something wonderful to think about."

A detail photograph of a note is seen on July 7, 2003, in St. Petersburg, Fla. The note was found inside a bottle behind the Venetian Isles home, near St. Petersburg, of Don Smith on the Fourth of July. The note was dated Dec. 27, 1984. The author was 7- year-old Roger Clay. Smith returned the note to Clay's mother Lisa Ferguson. Clay died in a motorcycle accident on July 10, 1998. Dirk Shadd /Associated Press