Wedding Photo Found at Ground Zero of World Trade Center

WHS Lions Pride Original Story:

by Sasha Mazikins

Elizabeth Stringer Keefe went to visit a friend in Manhattan a few weeks after September 11th in 2001. Keefe’s friend found a fringed wedding photo at Ground Zero, and she was moving to California. So, she gave the photo to Keefe and said to do something meaningful with it.

Keefe began to share the photo every September 11th on social networks with hopes of finding the couple, and friends in the photo. She has been posting the photo for the past 13 years. The tweet read “Every yr on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found @ #groundzero #WTC in 2001 -Pls RT @universalhub.”

Fred Mahe saw the tweet allegedly because of Blake Shelton’s retweet. Mahe responded to Keefe’s tweet by saying “I KNOW THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE!  I was at the wedding.” They then exchanged messages on Twitter and LinkedIn, then spoke on the phone.

“It was very overwhelming,” said Keefe to TODAY. “Small acts of kindness can have a very big impact.”

“I was in disbelief. I stayed up until 4 a.m. watching it go viral,” said Keefe to TODAY. The post reached over 40,000 shares on facebook, 35,000 favorites, and 12,000 retweets on Twitter.

“9/11 was a traumatic event for everyone, but there’s no description for the horrors that the people who worked in the World Trade Center and the area experienced. If the photo was connected, I wanted to do just one small thing to bring some comfort,” said Keefe to TODAY.

On September 11th, 2001 the photo was on Mahe’s desk on the 77th floor of the World Trade Center.

Mahe identified the couple as Christian and Christine Loredo. Mahe met them in college, and they now live in Aspen, Colorado. Mahe has a wife and two kids, and also lives in Colorado as well. In 2001, Mahe was on his way to work when the attack occurred. Keefe’s friend found the photo on September 12, 2001.

“I think it’s nice to know that people out there care so much for strangers. It gives me confidence in humanity,” Loredo says to ABC News.

After 13 years of searching, Keefe was persistent and finally found the family in the photo. I am sure that myself and many others would agree that Keefe achieved her friend’s goal of doing something meaningful with the photo.