Thirty-two years ago, a young Englishman named Paul Sales found himself stranded at Newark Airport and taken in overnight by a kindly Livingston family. Now, three decades later, he is seeking to reconnect with them. The problem is, he cannot remember their surname, and the contact information has been lost for many years. He is hoping the Tribune’s readers can help him track down them down.Sales, then 23 or 24, was at the time “going through my wanderlust backpacking stage,” he recalls. “By circumstances that are too long too explain, I found myself stranded and unable to get a flight back to London until the following day. It seemed like a rough 24 hours in Newark Airport was ahead of me until I could get a Virgin Atlantic flight home. It was at this point some true guardian angels came into the situation.”A nearby couple had overheard a discussion of the young traveler’s dilemma, and introduced themselves and offered to help. “I recall clearly that the husband was called Dave or David and was in fact an Englishman,” says Sales, although “regretfully, I do not recall his American wife’s name.”What he does clearly remember is “an outstanding act of not only kindness, but incredible faith and trust. They invited me to their home in Livingston. After meeting their two (I think it was two) young daughters, I had a chance to shower, and then enjoyed a fantastic dinner.”His New Jersey adventure was capped by “a warm comfortable bed in my own room, a great sleep, and a lovely breakfast the next morning. And then Dave drove me to Newark Airport the next day to get my flight.”At the time, Sales says, “I had their address and contact details, and think and hope I wrote to them. Sadly, those details have been lost in the midst of life and time.”Sales has lived a full and busy life since his backpacking days. Following his night in Livingston, he traveled and worked across Europe and the Middle East. During his travels, he says, “my cooking skills came in very handy.” After his return to London, he worked in a number of five-star hotels and restaurants.He and his wife, Julia, had a daughter, Olivia, who is now 23. After Olivia’s birth, the family moved to Ireland, where Sales worked for Radisson Hotels.Two years later, they returned to England and opened their own country pub ...
