An Iowa family has been reunited with their grandparents’ wedding photo after nearly 16 years.
Hope Tompkins was scrolling through Facebook when she came upon an old photo of her grandparents.
It had been posted by the City of Parkersburg’s Facebook page on Jan. 22, where officials were hoping someone would recognize the couple among the artifacts they had from the 2008 tornado that swept through the town.
“That is my Grandpa and Grandma,” Tompkins replied less than 15 minutes later.
The photo features Tompkins’s grandparents, Raymond and Maxine Randall. In the keepsake, Raymond is wearing his WWII military uniform, having served in part of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France, his daughter Marcia Mull told KGAN.
Mull was overjoyed to have the photo back in her possession after losing it in 2008 after an EF5 tornado bulldozed through Parkersburg.
Tomkins’ home was located on a stretch of Highway 14 that was hit particularly badly during the twister. When she and her mother returned to the site afterward, they discovered they had lost everything, including the photo.
“We sat there and just…it was just devastating,” Mull told the local outlet.
The photo was among the “thousands” of pictures and artifacts that the City of Parkersburg “redeemed still had value,” Parkersburg City Administrator Christopher Luhring told the outlet.
“We’ve had so many good stories in the last 16 years to come out. It’s just awesome to reflect on what that picture meant. But then to see the excitement and the joy in the family that got it back is pretty cool,” he said.
The Post has reached out to Tomkins for comment.
The 2008 Parkersburg tornado leveled the town after it tore through on May 25, causing extensive damage and killing nine people.
The natural disaster brought in 205 mph winds and had a destruction path just short of 45 miles long, according to CBS 2 Iowa.