BLOOMING GROVE — In that safe of cold, gray steel lay the accumulated treasures and memories of
several lifetimes.

Else Lenza's opal engagement ring. The one she accidentally cracked three days after her fiance
proposed because she wasn't used to wearing it.

Her mother's ruby engagement ring and wedding band.

Her late husband's wedding band.

Their fathers' wedding bands.

All that was lost two months ago when the safe in her house
was stolen. Nothing else was taken.
The safe contained everything.

The gold coins her son was given at his christening.

The nitty-gritty details that fill out a life: her U.S. citizenship documents, the deed to the house, her life
insurance policy.

Police have questioned witnesses, but have not yet made an arrest.

Lenza went to local jewelry shops to see if her items had been pawned. A private detective looked
into the theft.

"Nothing," she said.

What does one do when in a matter of minutes, the treasures and documents that help define one's
life are stolen?

Lenza is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone with information.

"I don't know who it is," she said. "Who hates me that much?"

The safe was stolen on Dec. 18, a Tuesday, when the ground was covered with snow. A vehicle —
police believe it was a gray SUV with two people inside — came into Lenza's driveway, leaving tire
tracks.  With a screwdriver, the robbers carefully shimmied open the side door so that only a
paperclip-sized piece of paint was chipped off.

From there, they walked up a few steps into the kitchen. They went up the stairs and into Lenza's
bedroom, where they opened an empty purse she had lying on a chair and looked in the closet.

The morning of the theft, Lenza left the house at 8:10 a.m. She returned less than two hours later.

She noticed her purse had been opened and went to the closet. The safe that had sat there for
decades was gone.
"All they wanted was the safe," Lenza said. "What's in there? Everything. My whole life. Fifty years
of my life."

The cuff links she gave her husband for their wedding.

The two-strand pearl necklace he gave her when their son was born.

Her birth certificate, and her will.