Dick Heibel repairs broken snow globes, bringing joy to those who connect to distant memories through these nostalgic trinkets. Seventy-seven-year-old Heibel lives in Northfield, Minnesota and still remembers his love of snow globes as a child and his fascination:
“To me it’s magical. I guess maybe I never grew out of that...”
Heibel repairs snow globes and music boxes that are broken, moldy, or filled with yellowing water. In his basement workshop, he repairs, repaints, reseals, and restores them, and with the globes, a piece of the owners’ past.
Heibel frequently receives letters from those for whom their newly repaired snow globes have special meaning. Heibel has a letter from a woman who had lost her father and was devastated when she broke her globe. He received another from a woman who said that her repaired snow globe allowed her to feel like a little girl again. He’s making the world a happier place.
Heibel’s wife says he has been given a gift, and he gives back that gift every time he repairs a globe. (Anthony Mason reports for CBS news – with photo)