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Local father needs help finding sentimental tool

The man says the screwdriver represents a lifetime of memories with his late father.

SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio father is on the hunt for a special tool. John David Salinas used it to help a stranded driver at a gas station and wants it back. The tool is not one you can find in a regular tool box though. To Salinas, it means something much more.

"Growing up as a kid my father and I were always working on cars," Salinas said. "I grew up around vintage and muscle cars."

Salinas said his father taught him about working on cars and credits him for teaching him a lot about life, including helping those in need. Salinas said that lesson came into play a couple of weeks ago when he stepped up to help a stranded driver. 

While on the job, he was at a convenience store off Culebra and Oak Hill Road and noticed a woman and two teens having car problems.

"I helped them reconnect the cables," he said. "And realized they didn't have a car that had a hood prop."

Salinas said he opened his trunk and got out a screwdriver. 

"I reached into my trunk where I keep all my tools," he said. "And pulled out about a foot and a half Craftsman screwdriver to use to prop up the hood."

After the car started up again, Salinas said he left in a rush, not realizing until the next morning what he left behind.

"It was kind of one of those moments slap the forehead, like did I leave it," he said.

Salinas realized he left behind the screwdriver.

"It belonged to my late father," he said. "It has been in my family for decades."

According to Salinas, this isn't as simple as going to the store to buy another one. He said he can't find one like the screwdriver given to him by his father who died 12 years ago. It is a Craftsman USA screwdriver with a yellow and red handle, about a foot and a half long, and it has flat-head tip.

"Just a screwdriver, but for me it is just has a lot of great memories," he said. "And if there was ever a way to possibly get it back that would be amazing."    

Salinas even took to social media to ask others for help finding the tool. He said he frequently checks in with the people at the convenience store to see if anyone has turned it in.

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