Diver Finds Camera In Ocean, Tracks Down Family Who Lost It 8 Years Earlier
BOSTON (CBS) - Eight years ago, on a family vacation on Martha's Vineyard, Gwen Sayian lost her camera when it slipped off her kayak in 12 feet of water. The family photos were gone.
Fast forward eight years to this week when Catherine Jackson and her husband Glen were scuba diving near Edgartown. Glen found a mussel-covered camera in the muck. They brought it up, cleaned it, and pulled out the SD card. It still worked.
Up on their laptop was a mystery family-photo album. "I'm an avid genealogist," said Catherine Jackson. "I like uncovering family histories and stories."
So they started digging. One photo showed a kid in a Hingham shirt. So the Jacksons posted the photos on a Hingham website. Two hours later, the mystery family saw them.
"Once I saw the photos and then the camera, my mind just went BAM!" said Adrienne Sayian, who was fifteen when the pictures were taken. "I know what that is and it's my mother's camera and immediately I jumped up, screamed at the top of my lungs."
Now, the Sayian family is reunited with their long-lost photos. But mom Gwen has never forgotten that moment on the kayak, when the camera went in. "Eight years ago I said that's it they're gone," Gwen said. "Pictures of birthdays and sailing and trips and family and everything else. They're gone. That's it."
The camera was found on Adrienne's 23rd birthday on Tuesday. "It was startling, because seeing the photos, I was even trying to picture how old was I when these were taken," Adrienne said.
"It was absolutely incredible," Gwen said.
