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 parentssa国际传媒� house for Mothersa国际传媒檚 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 Wallingersa国际传媒檚 grandmother bought sa国际传媒�10 or 11 years agosa国际传媒� at a garage sale in Kelowna. And, while the Wallinger family had always wanted to return the films, they never had the chance.

sa国际传媒淏ecause of quarantine life right now and having some extra time, [my mom] started going through boxes and that jogged her memory,sa国际传媒� 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.

sa国际传媒淚 put it on Facebook at 1:30 p.m. on Monday and it just kind of blew up from there,sa国际传媒� he says. sa国际传媒淏y 7 p.m. I was talking to two of the [daughters] of the parents who owned these tapes originally.sa国际传媒�

Taryn Jones, an archivist involved in genealogy research for almost 20 years, saw the post and thought, sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檒l just take a look and see if I can find anything.sa国际传媒�

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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sa国际传媒淚 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,sa国际传媒� Jones says. sa国际传媒淪o it was really exciting to confirm it was the right people and they were interested and that the films could go back.sa国际传媒�

Marion Baker was one of those family members. Her parentsa国际传媒檚 names were on the tapes and she says she was amazed to get the call from Wallinger.

sa国际传媒淚 just couldnsa国际传媒檛 believe that somebody would go to that much trouble to get them back to us and Isa国际传媒檓 so thankful,sa国际传媒� says Baker.

On Wednesday evening, outside of Wallingersa国际传媒檚 parentssa国际传媒� home in north Nanaimo, both families met to hand back the films.

Bakersa国际传媒檚 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 sistersa国际传媒檚 house.

sa国际传媒淚sa国际传媒檓 excited because I know one of my sistersa国际传媒檚 wedding is on there and I missed it because we werensa国际传媒檛 in the country at the time and one of my sistersa国际传媒檚 graduation and all these family trips that we heard about but had never seen any of the pictures,sa国际传媒� 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.

sa国际传媒淸Our] cousin sa国际传媒� we just discovered, or he discovered us sa国际传媒� about 10 years ago,sa国际传媒� says Baker. sa国际传媒淗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, wesa国际传媒檙e all girls.sa国际传媒�

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 cansa国际传媒檛 wait to share the films were her three other sisters, who live in Vernon.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e sort of cursing this virus thatsa国际传媒檚 going around right now or Isa国际传媒檇 probably be on my way to Vernon,sa国际传媒� she says. sa国际传媒淚tsa国际传媒檚 a very small world when it comes down to it.sa国际传媒�

kendra.crighton@blackpress.ca
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