Woman Finds Old Family Photo That Traveled Over 150 Miles From Where Tornado Hit

December 13, 2021

A woman in New Albany, Indiana, found a photo that had traveled over 150 miles from a tornado-damaged home in Dawson Springs, Kentucky.

Credit: Katie Posten on Facebook

Katie Posten said she walked outside Saturday morning to her car parked in her driveway and saw something that looked like a note or receipt stuck to the windshield.

It was a decades-old photo of a woman in a striped sundress and headscarf holding a little boy in her lap.

On the back, written in cursive, it said, "Gertie Swatzell & J.D. Swatzell 1942."

Credit: Katie Posten on Facebook

Katie posted an image of the photo on Facebook and Twitter and asked for help in finding its owners.

"A lot of people shared it on Facebook. Someone came across it who is friends with a man with the same last name, and they tagged him,” she told the AP.

That man was Cole Swatzell, who commented that the photo belonged to family members in Dawson Springs, Kentucky, a 167-mile drive by car.

Katie plans to return the photo to the Swatzell family sometime this week.

"It's really remarkable, definitely one of those things, given all that has happened, that makes you consider how valuable things are — memories, family heirlooms, and those kinds of things," Katie said.

"It shows you the power of social media for good. It was encouraging that immediately there were tons of replies from people, looking up ancestry records, and saying 'I know someone who knows someone and I'd like to help'."