Super Sleuth

It was not two hours after I’d posted back to the drawing board, as the Seth letter had failed to bear fruit, that the phone rang and up popped the name "W. Joling" which I knew had to be someone related to Seth.

It was Seth’s mom.

I could not get to the post office fast enough to ship the album and photos off to her in Idaho, stopping along the way to fill up the tank with gas at $6.15 per gallon.

YIKES!

Seth's mom offered to reimburse me for shipping.

I suggested she pay it forward.

Turns out Bonita was her dad’s longtime girlfriend some 20 years ago. Dad was no longer on this side of the veil, she somehow had heard of Bonita’s passing, and was sad to learn Bonita passed from cancer and had died alone.

Seth’s mom recognized some of the people in photos I’d attached to the letter but not all. She also did not recognize the name "Taylor" as in "Our Girl Taylor" printed on the outside of the album.

She thinks the ones she did not recognize may be relatives of Bonita.

Inasmuch as she, like I, is very involved in Creative Memories, appreciates the sentimental value of old family photos, she’s going to look through what I’ve sent, remove what is pertinent to her family and since she's obviously in contact with someone related to Bonita to have heard of her passing, will be able to pass on the other photos.

I can imagine her having fun seeing photos of her boys and her dad that she did not even know existed.

So, my hours of internet sleuthing have paid off.

I AM a Super Sleuth.

One thing this experience has taught me is the importance of labelling albums. Had it not been for Bonita filling out the binder section of her album with the names of the two Joling boys, it would have been near to impossible to track anyone down.

I've been doing Creative Memories since 1993, when mom passed away and the twins saved mom's photos from the trash pile my sister would have surely relegated them to.

I had just learned of Creative Memories and seeing the deplorable condition mom's photos were in took it upon myself to give CM a go.

Witness the transformation.

From this

And this

And this

And this

To this

None of the 18 albums I currently have are labeled, nor are the 4 above in Twin 2's possession, or the 50 or so in Twin 1's possession.

I've got to get busy and create a label to insert in each.