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Falls woman discovers decade-old certified LeBron James chewed bubble gum among her late mother’s belongings

Sometimes the best of a lifetime of treasures can be found tucked in a folder inside a plastic tote.

Loren “Coco” Mayer found one such “pop culture” treasure after she recently moved back to the Akron area and was sorting though boxes of things that belonged to her late mother Barbara Mathews — a deputy superintendant for Akron schools and once an executive for the former FirstMerit Bank — who died in 2009.

This Bubblicious piece of the city’s history was tucked among newspaper clippings chronicling Mathews’ rich philanthropic life in Akron that included a faded copy of an Akron Beacon Journal signed by New York City firefighters thanking her for helping to head a drive to replace fire equipment destroyed in the 9/11 attack.