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Trunk of family treasures washes up on South Padre Island

09:01 PM CST on Friday, December 5, 2008

By CLARA TUMA / KVUE News

A South Texas woman is looking for a family she has never met.

Video
KVUE-TV video
Dec. 5, 2008

She thinks she has something the family will want back.

Darla Card and her mother, Nora Blevins, recently found a decaying, barnacle-covered trunk on the beach on South Padre Island. Family memorabilia was nearby, and Card guesses the trunk full of artifacts was washed away from the Galveston area during Hurricane Ike in September.

"I've seen the devastation on the TV and on the internet of the homes completely destroyed," she says. "I thought if somebody had something left from a home that was destroyed and devastated, this would still be able to connect them to their life. It's very sentimental to me."

KVUE-TV image

This trunk of family treasures washed up on a South Padre Island beach.

The trunk contains children's school drawings, hand-stitched tea towels, a patch from the Houston Police Department, a blanket from the medical branch of the U.S. Navy, and a wedding announcement for Kathleen Parmer and Paul Thornton.

A wedding book for John and Diana Thornton surveyed the water-logged journey, as did:

-- A diploma for Deanna Dohn Thornton, who graduated from Sam Rayburn High School in 1985.

-- A diploma for Deanna Jean Fleming, who graduated from Bellaire High School in January 1966.

-- A certificate promoting Shawn Thornton to the 8-year-old class at the Austin Avenue Baptist Sunday School on May 14, 1978.

-- A third grade report card for Deanna Thornton and a kindergarten report card for Shawn Thornton from Pomeroy Elementary in the Pasadena School District.

Card says the items would be worthless to most people, but may be priceless to the family involved, especially if their home was destroyed in a hurricane.

"I personally have handprints of my children, photographs from Christmas, wedding information like this," she says. "This is what you'd find in a trunk that I have at home...We're just hoping the family can reconnect with their past."

If you know where the trunk might belong, contact listens@kvue.com

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