Thrift Store Worker Who Found Man's Ashes in Donations Says It Was 'Meant to Happen': 'A Very Crazy Story'

Nicole McClain tells PEOPLE she searched for months to find Mark Johnson's family after finding his ashes at a Florida thrift store

A Florida thrift store worker is reliving the moment she reunited a very thankful family with their relative's ashes after she discovered them among donations.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Nicole McClain recalled finding an urn keychain containing some of Mark Johnson's remains while working at a local thrift store in Yulee.

"I thought it was a container that you'd carry like [Ibuprofen] in or small jewelry. When I opened it I was confused for a second then I checked out the outside more closely and saw the dates," McClain tells PEOPLE.

"I put two and two together. It was one of the most unique things I've found. I've found school IDs, change, pictures... but never something like that. It didn't feel right just throwing it away so I took it home and hoped his family would be local."

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McClain says she was "really excited" to be able to connect with Johnson's family to reunite them with the ashes after his death in March 2020 following a colon cancer diagnosis. After searching for two months, McClain decided to ask local station Action News Jax for help in finding the family, and it worked.

"I tried on Facebook in local groups for about two months. Had no luck," McClain says, adding that once the story was out there, she'd "found [the family] within two hours."

In a message sent to McClain, Johnson's ex-wife, Cindy Lizama said his teenage daughter Adriana, 19, "cried" when she'd been shown the local news report.

"Adriana is beyond thrilled to have a part of her dad back," Lizama wrote to McClain about Adriana, who she has adopted.

Lizama, from Illinois, previously lived in Florida following her split from Johnson, but now lives in Washington state. She said Johnson had ended up also moving to Florida to be closer to Adriana amid his cancer diagnosis, per a message sent to McClain.

She added in the message to the thrift store worker that Johnson's then-girlfriend had kept his ashes, and she hadn't sent them to his daughter following his death on March 29, 2020.

"I didn't even think I was doing anything super amazing," McClain tells PEOPLE of reuniting the family with such a precious item. "I just figured it's what anyone would do. When I found out it was his daughter's it made me really happy I was able to give it to her and give her another piece of her dad."

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The thrift store worker managed to get the ashes back to the family for Thanksgiving. "It was one of those it was meant to happen things. I happened to work at that store, pick that box to go through, find that item," McClain shares.

"The son of Mark who lives in Ocala actually saw the Jacksonville news and called his mom and was like 'I think someone found dad's ashes.' So many events came together to have this happen," McClain continues.

"It was a very crazy story of how she [Lizama] got to Wa. and her husband's ashes were here," McClain adds, revealing that Lizama and her daughter "were so grateful."