89-year-old woman returns from rehab to find out home was broken into

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An 89-year-old woman returned home from rehab Wednesday, only to discover that someone had broken into her house.

Claudine Pate has lived in her home for 52 years and raised her family in it, along with her husband, Jack, who died in 2002.

A few weeks ago, Pate had a fall, and on Tuesday, she checked into rehab.

When Pate arrived home on Wednesday, she found that multiple items of jewelry had been stolen.

"All my jewels were taken,” Pate said. “All of my rings, my wedding band, my diamond engagement (ring)."

The thief, or thieves, also took her husband’s 1940 Harding High School class ring, which she remembers from the night they met because she mistook it for a wedding band.

"He says, ‘I'm not married,’” Pate said. “I said, ‘What are you doing with the wedding band on?’ So, he turns it around and says, ‘This is not a wedding band.’ So, that's when I first saw the ring."

Pate said all of the items taken are just things, but she said she didn’t always feel that way.

“It made me irritable -- maybe full of bad thoughts,” Pate said.

She said she hopes that some of the items will turn up at a pawn shop and she can get them back, but she’s prepared to deal with the situation if that doesn’t happen.

“Yes, I will always remember that it happened,” Pate said. “It’s just stuff. We just have stuff. Your valuable is in heaven.”

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