In 2016, Chelsea Campbell's father died of bowel cancer.
Known to be a "real prankster", his ashes were locked away into bejewelled pendants for his loved ones to carry around. However he got the last laugh after one went missing two weeks ago.
Ms Campbell visited the Tauranga Countdown supermarket with her eight-year-old daughter, who was wearing a pendant. However they realised the chain had broken and the pendant had gone missing somewhere within the store.
Despite a desperate search, the pendant couldn't be found. However, on Sunday she received a Facebook message that changed everything.
"Hi Chelsea. I work... in the chilled department. I found your lost pendant in amongst the cottage cheese."
Ms Campbell says her family have been overwhelmed with happiness to have the pendant returned - although she's not sure if her father ever liked cottage cheese.
"I couldn't believe it," she told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"He would be cracking up. He liked playing tricks on people."
Store manager Dwaine Geddes says she's glad her team found the pendant.
"Our staff have been on the lookout since we were alerted to it being missing, and it was fantastic to find the pendant at what's no doubt been a very worrisome time for the customer," he told the Bay of Plenty Times.
"We assume another customer found it and put it somewhere obvious for the team to find as we regularly clean and re-stock these shelves, and we're really pleased to see such a special item returned."
Newshub.
