Connor West is 21 years old and is studying engineering at Texas A&M University. He's originally from New Jersey and moved to Texas to study in 2015.
In 2007, Connor's dad was diagnosed with cancer. As part of his treatment, he would go for walks around their town — and a few times he returned from his walk with a little yellow rubber duck. "For some reason my dad would find these rubber ducks in the gutter or on the sidewalk or whatever and bring them home," Connor told BuzzFeed News. In the end, Connor's dad brought home three ducks in total.
Over time, the ducks became a fun part of West family life. They would even kiss the rubber ducks on the butt for good luck. Eventually, Connor's dad began hiding them, or leaving them on desks for good luck.
Sadly, Connor's father died in 2014. The next year, Connor left for college and the family sold its house. Connor took the two ducks he had with him and thought his mother took the third. However, this wasn't the case – and Connor ended up finding the duck in the fold-out arm rest of his car. "I didn't put it there and my mom didn't put it here," he said. "It used to be my mom's old car she drove dad to chemo with, so I guess he wanted to make sure he had some luck on the way to chemo."
On Wednesday, Connor tweeted about finding the duck. "Dad, you genius jerk," he wrote. The tweet went viral on Twitter with over 36,000 retweets and hundreds of responses.
My dad always found rubber ducks while on walks and hid them around for his version of good luck. He passed four years ago, and we thought we found them all. Tonight, I opened the back seat cupholder of my car for apparently the first time in a while. Dad, you genius jerk https://t.co/YkW8G6b6ZZ
Connor said a lot of people were wondering how a man in a small New Jersey town could find rubber ducks while walking around. "I don't really know how to answer that one," he said. "I guess my dad took his duck secrets to the grave."
Why was he consistently finding rubber ducks on his walks https://t.co/xVPKFEMA7B
People have even been messaging Connor with their own stories about finding things that have been left behind by loved ones who have died.
my mf heart dude cmon https://t.co/Q8Fu0KhENs
@ConnorJ_W My daughter was killed a day after her 11th birthday. she always drew hearts everywhere. I’d find hearts in pieces of tape and under neath the counter. My last bday card hand made n signed n now I have it tattooed. This is next. https://t.co/PmiQhrXSdc
@ConnorJ_W My dad passed 3 years ago and last week I found an old voicemail of him telling me to get off my Xbox and study, while I was playing Xbox and not studying. It’s the little moments that have the biggest impact. 💕
@ConnorJ_W Omg! I have a similar story. I had an elderly neighbor I knew for 19 years that we’d call Papi Pato (duck). We were very close & when he passed away I would see rubber ducks in parking lots until I finally picked one up & put it in my car & after that they stopped appearing.
Connor said the whole experience has been incredibly powerful. "I honestly didn't expect anyone to share that stuff with me, but I'm glad they did," he said.
@ConnorJ_W "Be someone's rubber duck" is the most beautiful sentiment I've heard in a while, I hope he's in a peace man