Fresno community helps return veteran's cherished cane after Costco loss

A custom cane belonging to Jim Pryce was found after going missing for a couple of days, ending a Fresno-area search that began with a lost item tied to Costco in Clovis. Pryce, a 90-year-old Air Force veteran and retired Fresno police lieutenant, had gone public because the cane carried deep personal significance.

ABC30 KFSN first posted the search plea Monday, July 20, 2026, at 11:22 p.m. PT, identifying Pryce and explaining why the cane mattered to him. The report put Costco's Clovis warehouse at the center of a small but intensely personal recovery effort, the kind of situation that can turn a routine retail stop into a community errand.

Pryce later told Action News that he had initially believed the cane was lost at the Clovis Costco, but then clarified it was lost elsewhere. The correction changed the location, but not the urgency around finding it. ABC30 later said the custom cane had been found after a couple of days.

The story quickly spread beyond Fresno County. FOX26/KMPH, The National Desk, and the New York Post all picked up the search and the recovery, with the New York Post describing Pryce's hand-carved cane as having been returned after a community search following its loss at a local Costco. In a warehouse setting where customers move through carts, registers, and parking lots in a hurry, the episode stood out because the people following it treated the cane as something worth tracking down, not just another misplaced item.