Gnomes stolen from Lincoln Park home of WWII vet

Vick Peril says figurines are memory of his wife, who died after 65 years of marriage

LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – An 88-year-old World War II veteran who lives in Lincoln Park says his heart is breaking after someone stole some very sentimental items from his front yard.

Vick Peril was married to his wife for 65 years before she passed. She had built a collection gnomes and figurines that she proudly displayed in front of their home. Peril said his wife took great care to place the collectables in the spring and packed them away in the winter. After his wife died, Peril took a photo so he could remember how she had last arranged them.

Peril thinks the gnomes were stolen in broad daylight last Friday.

"I happened to come out and said, ‘Oh, God, there's one missing." And I looked around there were six gone," he said.

Peril said the gnomes' nostalgic value is more than their monetary value.

"They were a family item of my wife's and I'd appreciate getting them back. There are a lot of sentiments to it," he said.

Anyone with information on the theft is asked to call Lincoln Park police at 313-381-1800.