HILLIARD, Ohio — A Hilliard woman has taken it upon herself to track down the rightful owner of a photograph that showed up in her front yard after the March 14 tornadoes in Ohio.
Jennifer Saunders and her family woke up on March 15 to find an unframed 8x10 photograph in their front yard.
“My family and I saw it out in the yard and I came out and picked it up,” she said. “My son Brandon asked me what am I going to do with the picture. I said I’m going to try and find the owner of it.”
She went to work trying to find who it belonged to. First, she went around her neighborhood to see if it came from close by. When it didn’t, she took to social media. She posted the picture to Facebook and Nextdoor in an attempt to track down who it belonged to.
A mom herself, she said losing a photo of her kids would be a big deal to her.
“They’re important artifacts of a person’s life. They’re a time stamp of an individual’s life,” Saunders said. “Families pass on photographs from generation to generation. That’s how they connect and know each other’s histories.”
There are no names written on the photo. There is just a 2011 date stamp and the watermark of Olan Mills Portrait Photography. Olan Mills closed its doors when it merged with Lifetouch in late 2011. The child in the photograph would be nearly grown by now.
It’s unclear if the photo came from the Hilliard-area tornadoes in February or the March 14th tornadoes. The photo did appear on the 15th, however.
Saunders said she wants to bring a little kindness during a time when people need it.
“People have lost so much in these tornadoes. If I could just give just one thing back or something that means so much that would be so valuable like this photograph, that would mean so much,” she said.
If you know who is in the photo or who it belongs to, email collin.dorsey@10tv.com or call the 10TV newsroom.