I'm glad that the story ended well for the OP. It is encouraging to see that someone found the phone and helped out.

However, my brother lost his cell a few weeks ago. He thinks he dropped it getting out of his car at a gas station. Well, the 'gentleman' who picked it up didn't call 'Home' or 'Mom'. He proceeded to call his friends, his sister-in-law, and his work associates making all kinds of colorful statements and threats. This continued until my brother realized his phone was gone and called Verizon to have it shut down. So... My advice would be to have your phone password protected and have the welcome message include an alternate phone number "ICE".

Unfortunately, the whole password thing is a real drag when you want to quickly call someone, but explaining to your boss that the lewd message on her cell phone wasn't from you or your jokster friends isn't a ton of fun either.

Phone received in the mail, thank you gift basket ordered
It great to see things work out^

If I found someones cellphone as I have had in the past I would return it. I have found numerous phones laying around stores and I have always turned it to the lost and found. Before doing so I would call any entry in the addressbook such as Mom etc to let them know that the phone is lost and I wil turn it to the lost and found area.

I found a cell phone on the Tanner Trail in the Grand Canyon backcountry. The Tanner is normally considered a trail that only very experienced hikers should take. It had a "home" entry and I called them later. Cell phones do not work in that part of the Canyon. I described the location and it turned out that their 13 yo son got some snacks out of his backpack at a rest break and dropped it. They sent me a nice thank you letter but did not offer to pay the $10 FedEx cost.

I left some valuables (about $500 of misc electronics) on a DEN-PHX flight and went to the UA lost and found the next morning and it was there. Karma....

I can't tell you how many times my Mom got calls when my brother lost his phone while in college. It is still a running joke in the family.

I lost my cell phone once when I was in college. Sure enough, my mom got a call later that night from the guy who found my phone. We were able to meet up later so I got my phone back from the nice gentleman.

I too have some ICE entries in my phone just in case something happens to me.

I found a lady's voter registration card and mailed it back to the address listed and about a week later I received a lovely thank you note from her.
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On the flip side, I've returned cell phones, passports, and iPods only to get nothing but grief from the people who lost them.

My Blackberry has a password, so nobody can call home or mum

But I have set the "Owner" option to display my name, work address, and work phone number. This is shown when the screen is locked.

SmilingBoy.

I found a passport on the floor right in front of my seat in row one on an ORD/SEA flight. The passport was the thickest one I have ever seen in my life--at least 100 pages--and the guy lived in Seattle. It looked like he flew to China every week, so I decided it would be quicker to just take care of it myself rather than turn it in to UA's lost and found. When I got off the plane and went back to my office, I jumped on line, looked him up and found an exact name match. It turned out to be his Dad, who asked me to overnight the passport, which I did.

Never heard back.