Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
The Internet is good for a lot of things – researching projects, genealogy searches and keeping in touch with old friends. It can also be a lost and found when someone loses a camera during a vacation.
Hillsboro resident Ginger Must went on vacation last summer to Prince Edward Island in Canada and did just that – lost her camera.
Resigned to the fact she would never see her camera again, Must was surprised to find that a good samaritan, Stephen Newman, found the camera and had been trying to find its owner through the magic of Facebook.
Newman posted several pictures from the photo on his Facebook page accompanied by a message.
“There are some special memories for someone out there in this world that I’m sure they would like to have back,” Newman wrote on Facebook. “If I lost my camera, I would want someone to do the same for me, so please share and like to get the word out.”
Of the three photos Newman posted, one was of Molly Must in front of the Civil War mural she was working on for the town of Marlinton. The photo was taken at the mural reveal event at the Pretty Penny Café.
According to Ginger, after Newman’s post was shared 190 times, a friend of his did a reverse image search on Google which led him to a similar image of Molly taken by this writer for The Pocahontas Times. The friend followed the link and found the story, leading him to Molly and Pocahontas County.
The friend shared the information with Newman who contacted Molly and explained that he found the camera. Molly put him in contact with Ginger. Newman shipped the camera back to Ginger and, after a year, the captured memories were back in the hands of their rightful owner.
In a Facebook post from June, Ginger shared the story and how grateful she was for all the help from Newman and his friends.
“Generosity of the human spirit,” Ginger wrote. “A wonderful fellow who loves film and conducts Trivia Night in Price Edward Island found the camera I lost last summer. After 190 shares amongst his friends, one of my photos of Molly was identified by a techno whiz whose reverse image searched her Civil War mural preview photo which led him to Pocahontas Times article on same. Stephen, you are forever my buddy and maybe I’ll meet you in person one day.”