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MOANALUA, HI (KITV) — A mystery that started in Washington State – may end here in Hawaii. Old photographs were found by the side of the road in the city of SeaTac. They were of Japanese-American Big Island plantation workers. Washington State sheriffs looked for the owners, and found a family here in Moanalua.
These photos sent the King County Sheriff’s Office on a small hunt for the rightful owner, after a facility maintenance worker in SeaTac, Washington found them. The only useful lead was notes on the back of the pictures that reference Hawaii.
The Sheriff’s office says it couldn’t find who the photographs belong to, so it took the search to Facebook (posted October 23 at 9 a.m.). That’s where Sylvia Kop and her daughters come into the picture.
“I caught the photo on Facebook and texted my mom. That’s the same photo we saw in his apartment. We saw it every time we went over there,” says Sharla Gogogue excitedly over Zoom.
Her late grandfather Paul Umeda had the photo on his wall. This is he- just four-years-old in this picture, taken in 1924 in Pa’auilo, Hawaii Island. It’s a wedding photo.
“What did you think when you saw the photo?” I ask Gogogue’s sister, Trisha Carreira. “Oh my goodness, we saw that photo all the time in my grandfather’s house before,” she responds.
Kop points out another little detail in the photo. “He’s the only child with the black pants with the shoes. He was always so proud he was the only child with shoes,” she laughs.
This little boy grew up to first become a fisherman at the age of 13, and then “he went straight to World War II. He was part of the 100th Battalion,” she adds.
This photo is not the only copy. There’s about 30 photos like this. But Kop doesn’t know who lost it. “All the grandchildren have the photo. It’s 20 ½ X 16 ½. It’s a pretty big picture. It was meant to be put in everybody’s hallway,” she tells me.
Kop’s grandmother is in the other photo. She’s the little girl in the middle. Kop and her daughters don’t know everyone in these pictures, but thanks to this post, they’re meeting distant relatives. Turns out, something lost is resulting in something found.
“Kinda neat. We get to meet new family,” muses Carreira.
Kop is calling the King’s County Sheriff’s Office on Monday morning. “See if anybody claims it. If nobody claims it, I’ll have them ship it to me,” she says.
Kop says there’s lots of other family who’ll want this treasure. And she’s happy her dad can come home.
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