The world feels a little bit smaller for one Vancouver Island resident after 13 family films were returned to their rightful owner a decade after they were accidentally sold during a yard sale in Kelowna.
Chris Wallinger was at his parents乌鸦传媒� house for Mother乌鸦传媒檚 Day and learned of a box of old Super 8 reels. The recordings, with the name Thompson and a Victoria address written on them, were included in a projector box that Wallinger乌鸦传媒檚 grandmother bought 乌鸦传媒�10 or 11 years ago乌鸦传媒� at a garage sale in Kelowna. And, while the Wallinger family had always wanted to return the films, they never had the chance.
乌鸦传媒淏ecause of quarantine life right now and having some extra time, [my mom] started going through boxes and that jogged her memory,乌鸦传媒� Chris Wallinger says.
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Wallinger snapped a couple of photos and posted his story on Reddit, where a someone quickly suggest he post it in a Facebook group called Old Victoria.
| These Super8 Tapes have been in the hands of the Wallinger family for the past decade after they were purchased with a projector at a yard sale in Kelowna. (Courtesy of Chris Wallinger) |
乌鸦传媒淚 put it on Facebook at 1:30 p.m. on Monday and it just kind of blew up from there,乌鸦传媒� he says. 乌鸦传媒淏y 7 p.m. I was talking to two of the [daughters] of the parents who owned these tapes originally.乌鸦传媒�
Taryn Jones, an archivist involved in genealogy research for almost 20 years, saw the post and thought, 乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檒l just take a look and see if I can find anything.乌鸦传媒�
Within half an hour, Jones found the death registration of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson. Through Ancestry.com, Jones tracked down a relative who put Wallinger in contact with the family members on the Island.
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乌鸦传媒淚 just think about if someone had film from my family and they were trying to track me down, how I would feel if they contacted me,乌鸦传媒� Jones says. 乌鸦传媒淪o it was really exciting to confirm it was the right people and they were interested and that the films could go back.乌鸦传媒�
Marion Baker was one of those family members. Her parent乌鸦传媒檚 names were on the tapes and she says she was amazed to get the call from Wallinger.
乌鸦传媒淚 just couldn乌鸦传媒檛 believe that somebody would go to that much trouble to get them back to us and I乌鸦传媒檓 so thankful,乌鸦传媒� says Baker.
On Wednesday evening, outside of Wallinger乌鸦传媒檚 parents乌鸦传媒� home in north Nanaimo, both families met to hand back the films.
Baker乌鸦传媒檚 parents were living in Enderby when her mother died in 1990. In the years following, her father moved back to Victoria but sold several items at a garage sale before his move. The recordings, which have videos of family vacations, Christmases and weddings from 1967 to 1981, are even more special to Baker as a lot of her family photos were lost to a fire at her sister乌鸦传媒檚 house.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檓 excited because I know one of my sister乌鸦传媒檚 wedding is on there and I missed it because we weren乌鸦传媒檛 in the country at the time and one of my sister乌鸦传媒檚 graduation and all these family trips that we heard about but had never seen any of the pictures,乌鸦传媒� says Baker.
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What makes this story even more unbelievable, is the cousin who Jones found on Ancestry.com, lives in Winnipeg and was doing his own research.
乌鸦传媒淸Our] cousin 乌鸦传媒� we just discovered, or he discovered us 乌鸦传媒� about 10 years ago,乌鸦传媒� says Baker. 乌鸦传媒淗e had all this [family information] on Ancestry or we would have never have been found because none of us has the Thompson name anymore, we乌鸦传媒檙e all girls.乌鸦传媒�
Baker says her son is working on tracking down a Super 8 projector so the family can view the films before meeting with her other sister who lives on the Island as well. She says she can乌鸦传媒檛 wait to share the films were her three other sisters, who live in Vernon.
乌鸦传媒淲e乌鸦传媒檙e sort of cursing this virus that乌鸦传媒檚 going around right now or I乌鸦传媒檇 probably be on my way to Vernon,乌鸦传媒� she says. 乌鸦传媒淚t乌鸦传媒檚 a very small world when it comes down to it.乌鸦传媒�
kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca
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