Life
Woman Returns Ground Zero Wedding Photo To Owner
Every year, Elisabeth posted the photo on social media, hoping to figure out what happened. 13 years later, she had almost given up hope
Jonathan Maes
08.14.17

When Elisabeth Stringer Keefe found a photograph of a newlywed at Ground Zero couple a few weeks after the tragic 9/11 terrorist attack, she vowed to look for the original owner and the couple in the picture.

Every year during the 9/11 memorial, she asked around and posted a message on Twitter asking people to share her message in the hopes of finding out who this pictured belonged to. She didnโ€™t have any luck for years, but more than thirteen years later, someone finally recognized the picture.

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Elisabeth found the photograph rather coincidentally with a friend she was visiting in Manhattan. Because Elisabethโ€™s friend was planning to move to California, the picture was passed on to Elisabeth. According to the woman, her friend asked her to โ€œdo something meaningful with it.โ€

Every single year, Elisabeth tried her best to find out who the groom and bride with the yellow roses were. She also tried to find the other people who were on the photograph, hoping that they could tell her more and deliver the picture back to the original owner.

Elisabeth Keefe
Source:
Elisabeth Keefe
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โ€œ9/11 was a traumatic event for everyone, but thereโ€™s no description (for) the horrors that the people who worked in the World Trade Center and the area experienced,โ€ Elisabeth said to TODAY. โ€œIf the photo was connected, I wanted to do just one small thing to bring some comfort.โ€

โ€œI was in disbelief,โ€ she said. โ€œI stayed up until 4 a.m. watching it go viral.โ€

After a couple of years, a tweet with the picture went viral and had over 40,000 retweets.

Thanks to the help of thousands of Twitter users, someone had finally recognized the people on the picture.

Fred Mahe from Colorado responded to her tweet saying that he knows the people on the photo and attended the wedding. He is the man thatโ€™s standing to the far left and last saw the picture sitting on his desk on the 77th floor of the second World Trade Center tower.

โ€œThat kind of exposure was incredible, and certainly helped to bring us together,โ€ Elisabeth said.

Elisabeth and Fred then talked to each other on the phone and she was relieved to hear that everyone in the picture were alive and well.

The two arranged a meeting so that the photograph could be handed over in person and return to its owner after thirteen years of being lost.

โ€œFred and I will reconnect in New York for me to return it to him,โ€ she mentions.

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All of this wouldnโ€™t be possible if social media didnโ€™t help Elisabeth out, and she expresses her gratitude for sharing this picture with an emotional meaning.

โ€œThe outpouring of support from the online community is what made this work,โ€ she concludes. โ€œSmall acts of kindness can have a very big impact.โ€

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