For 13 years, assistant professor Elizabeth Stringer Keefe would post the above 9/11 wedding photo found at Ground Zero on her social media accounts. Together with a group of dedicated friends, they would do this every year on 11 September, hoping to reunite the photo with its owner.
And this year, her persistence paid off.
Keefe’s original tweet of the photo searching for the owner has more than 80,000 retweets as of writing. She credited Universal Hub for the massive extent of virality that helped her to locate Fred Mahe, one of the individuals in the photo.
She told Mashable, “It’s a beautiful, joyful moment captured in time and it was such a contrast to what I saw at Ground Zero, which was still burning when I was there.
Keefe continued, “So, if it had a relationship to 9/11, I wanted to keep it safe until I could return it to its owner. There’s so much beauty and happiness in the photo that I just felt committed to the task.”
She revealed that the photo was passed to her in October 2001 by a friend, who was relocating to California, and requested that Keefe do something meaningful with it.
Every year on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found at #groundzero #WTC in 2001. Pls RT http://ift.tt/YBWU9x
— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 12, 2014
@ProfKeefe I KNOW THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE! I was at the wedding.
— Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 12, 2014
Attention wonderful world: ALL SIX PEOPLE ARE ALIVE AND WELL AND I HAVE JUST SPOKEN TO ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!! #Happyending #911photo
— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 12, 2014
@ProfKeefe You did it Elizabeth. YOU are amazing. #9/12
— Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 13, 2014
@ProfKeefe 9/11 we remember what we lost.
9/12 we remember what we have.
9/12/01, I saw the best of humanity. Elizabeth is 100% 9/12 #9/12
— Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 13, 2014
Dear Everyone: introducing the very much alive & well @FredWMahe!! #FARLEFT #weallknowyou #911photo #AMAZING #NYC Thank you to ALL
— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 13, 2014
And for the big finish: @fredwmahe & I will meet on #Monday in #NYC! So excited! #911photo
— E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 13, 2014
[via Mashable]