Mystery solved: Owner of Florida lost photo album is found thanks to readers and Dalriada 'detectives'

The Northern Ireland owner of an old family photo album found in Florida has been discovered thanks to social media and a team of ‘detectives’ from a Ballymoney school.

The quest was launched after American lady made an appeal to Northern Ireland readers to reunite the album with its family after its was left in a Florida hotel a long time ago and it ended up in ‘lost and found’.

The album with pictures of people and children from 1970s and 1980s also featured wedding invitations and offered clues linking it to Northern Ireland.

Sandra Sue Dent from Lake Wales in Florida contacted the Ballymoney Times (sister paper of the Belfast News Letter) and Dalriada School in Ballymoney for help in tracing the owners as one of the photos featured an old school hockey team.

Sandra Sue, explained: “I think the album was left at the Howard Johnson’s Hotel in Winter Haven, Florida, USA, a long time ago and it ended up in their ‘lost and found’. Eventually it found its way to me. Inside there is a picture of Cypress Gardens which is located in Winter Haven; I live near there. I think it was left at the hotel sometime in the 1990s or maybe the early 2000s.”

And after the story was published and posted on social media, dozens responded, commenting and tagging people who might know the family. Dalriada School also got their ‘detectives’ on the case too who eventually discovered the owner’s sister.

Sandra Sue has now returned the album to its owner, Nona (Connolly) Young originally from the Dervock area who also lives in Florida.

Solving the mystery to how it got into her possession, Sandra Sue, continued: “Thank you so much for helping to get this story out so we could reunite the album with the owner, Nona Young, who happens to live in the same county in Florida where I live! The album is now with Nona. Nona and I have talked extensively comparing memories, and we think we have solved the mystery of how this happened.

“Nona’s mother gave her the album when she had been back to Ireland in the early 1990’s. On the way back home to the states she had the album in an open topped bag which was placed in the overhead bin on the flight to Tampa. When she arrived home, she was excited to show the album to her husband, but it was gone. Nona called the airline who said nothing had been turned in, so she had to forget about it.

“In the meantime the album travelled to Winter Haven, Florida to the Howard Johnson’s hotel. We think that a passenger probably found and kept it out of curiosity. We feel that if the airline staff had found it, they would surely have turned it in. It is common for people to fly into Tampa, then travel to the attractions or sports events in Winter Haven, Florida. Later at the hotel, the passenger either left the photo album in the hotel room, or handed it to my husband who worked at the front desk. He knows someone handed it to him, but he can’t remember if it was a member of the hotel staff or a guest. He gave it to me.

“I thought that I should try to figure out how to find the owner, but the thought was pretty overwhelming. In the early 1990’s I was not experienced in doing research on the internet, and I thought that one day I would be able to do this. I stored it in a safe place and put it out of my mind.

“Decades and a busy career later, the album resurfaced, and I knew it was time to finally get it back to the family. It was so easy because by then I was internet savvy, and I just followed the clues I found in the album and reached out to the Dalraida School and the Ballymoney Times.

"The Times passed the story to your paper, and the articles and Facebook posts that both papers wrote created a lot of attention. So many friends and family members reached out to Nona that she just couldn’t believe it! Nona and I are both very thankful for the help we received to get these pictures back to the family.”