Can anyone explain what would happen if I created a wallet in 2010 and someone sent coins to the wallet address, gave me a tx number that I stuck in and hit receive, shut the wallet down and left Bitcoin demon running ( It probably didn't sync with the network) and went to work. When I got home the power had been off and the computer was off, I never had it back online since then. I looked on the block chain at old addresses and don't see that amount around the time it happened.
If the transaction was successful, there is no need to even boot up a client or wallet (for years if you don't want to), once you start the client and fully sync the blockchain, the coins will be there. Have you checked the blockexplorer?