Jeff Ingram is right back where he was 11 years ago. He can’t remember anything about his life, except how to talk, how to do arithmetic and a handful of other basics.
His mother? His fiancée? Strangers. He’s even a stranger to himself.
Ingram – who came to Slave Lake in 1995 after a knock on the head in Seattle left him with almost total amnesia – departed his fiancée’s house in Olympia Washington on Sept. 6 to drive home to Slave Lake. He never arrived.
“It’s an awful feeling,” says his mother Doreen Tompkins of Slave Lake, who has been through it before.
Tompkins was in the dark, fearing the worst, for over a month before news of her son surfaced. It turned out he was in a Denver Colorado hospital, with no idea who he was or how he got there. With no identification, and no help from fingerprint files, the authorities in Colorado were equally in the dark. What cracked the mystery was a national television story on the man they were calling ‘Al, for want of a better name.
“If anybody recognizes me, knows who I am, please let somebody know,” pleaded Ingram on the Oct. 20 broadcast.
Somebody did recognize him.
“We heard from one of his friends,” says Tompkins.
“He called, said he’d seen him on the news.”
The good tidings also reached Ingram’s fiancée Penny Hansen in Washington. She arranged to have him flown there. Tompkins and her husband flew down on Oct. 28. The reunion was bittersweet, because Jeff didn’t remember them.
“There’s a big hole in my heart, knowing that he didn’t remember me,” says Tompkins. “(But) it’s my Jeff, all right. I’m a lucky person.”
Doctors in Denver diagnosed Ingram’s condition as ‘dissociative fugue’ amnesia, which they say is very rare and not well understood. They think stress may have triggered it. Contrary to early reports, there was no head trauma evident.
News reports say Ingram ‘woke up’ on the steps of a building in Denver on Sept. 10, four days after he left Olympia for the two-day drive to Slave Lake. He walked around for a few hours asking people for help, but not getting much. Eventually he came upon a hospital and received assistance there. Whether or not he understood what a hospital is was not clear from news reports.
Of Ingram’s car there was, and apparently still is, no trace. He also lacked a wallet, but had money and jewelry on his person, suggesting that he had not been robbed. His car may have been stolen.
Ingram’s initial case of memory loss occurred in 1995, when he was missing (as far as his family was concerned) for nine long months. He had apparently taken a trip to the States, possibly to participate in a darts tournament.
Ingram came to in a Seattle ambulance on Aug. 11 of that year, suffering from head trauma, and unable to remember anything. Thanks to an appointment card to a Calgary clinic, authorities were able to find out who he was.
Ingram moved to Slave Lake then to live with his mother and stepfather Pat Tompkins. The Leader ran a story about his situation in October of 1995. A year later, at the time of a follow-up story, he still hadn’t recovered his memory.
Ingram built a new life in Slave Lake, working as a meat-cutter at Boisvert’s Super A for a few years, and more recently at the Tolko mill near Slave Lake. An avid darts player, he belonged to the Legion’s darts league and participated in tournaments around the province.
“He was very well-liked in town,” says Doreen.
Ingram met and married a woman in Slave Lake, a union that didn’t last. About three years ago he met Hansen online and they eventually became engaged to be married. He had “made quite a few trips to the States,” to spend time with her, Doreen says.
The most recent visit started in March of this year, and ended with his departure for Slave Lake on Sept. 6. He’s back in Olympia with Hansen now.
“He wants to stay in the States and be with his fiancée and that’s what she wants too,” Doreen says.
Ingram doesn’t recognize her, but according to a report in ‘The Olympian’ newspaper, he feels a connection to Hansen.
“He’s hanging in there,” says his mom.
Figuring out what happened and what (if anything) to do about it will require medical attention and money. Hansen has started a trust fund in Jeff’s name to help with those costs. Anyone interested can contribute to the Jeffrey Ingram Fund at the Washington State Employees Credit Union, care of Penny Hansen, P.O. Box 12147, Olympia Washington, 98508.

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