The death of a parent is a wound that never fully heals. As children, we see our parents as our protectors, always there. But once they are gone, we seek out whatever can be found to hold onto their memories. From pictures to clothes, we cherish the things that remind us of them. For one son who lost his mother when he was young, it took decades to find the one item that made his childhood memories come roaring back. And when he did, what was inside made it all the more heartwarming.

Janis Berry died in the 1970s. But her son still carried her memory with him, and when he had a chance to buy her old car, he jumped at it. Photo from YouTube.

When Janis Berry died, her son John was only 15-years-old. And as the years passed, he began to realize that his main memories around his mother came from a lime-green Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme that his father had bought Janis in 1971. After she died, her husband tried to hold onto the car, but as the years passed, he eventually sold it. Berry grew up, and had a family of his own. And he began thinking of the car that had meant so much to his mom, and just as much to him. But what he didn’t know was that he would be embarking on a 20-year-quest to get the car back.

John Berry purchased his mom’s old car. Inside he found photos and more. Photo from YouTube.

This year, decades after her death and the car’s transfer to another owner, her son tracked it down and bought it back. “It’s been exciting, sentimental, and it’s brought back a lot of memories for me,” Berry said.

I remember my Mom getting in, putting the top down, putting a scarf around her head and putting her sunglasses on and going for a ride,” he said.

As Berry got older, he realized he had few items that belonged to his mother. So he began a search for the car that had always been important to her. As he had gotten older he realized that he had ever really kept any of his mom’s belongings to remember her by and he regretted it. Berry, who lives in Kentucky, researched and finally found the man who purchased the car all the years ago.

He lived in Michigan, and Berry reached out, hoping to buy back the vehicle. However, the man still wanted the car. But Berry never lost faith. He spent nearly 22 years keeping in touch with the man, in the hopes that one day he would decide to sell the car. “For about 20 to 22 years, I stayed in contact with that gentleman,” he said. And finally, the man changed his mind.

John Berry’s children sit in their grandmother’s old car. Photo from YouTube

“He’s a gentleman who’s 81-years-old, and he said, ‘I got to thinking about your desire for the car and the number of years that I’ll be able to drive it and enjoy it,’” Berry said. “And he said ‘I think it was time to let it go.’” And finally Berry was able to drive his mother’s car. But it was what was inside the car that hit home for the man. When he opened the glovebox, he found belongings his mom had left.

“In the glovebox, there was a pair of my mother’s sunglasses, some papers she had written maps on, and some earrings and stamps that she had kept in there,” Berry said. “So that was another trip down memory lane.” In a video below, shared by news outlet WCPO 9, Berry’s young children were sitting in their grandmother’s car, smiling, enjoying time with their father. History, it seems, has been able to repeat itself after all these years.