Boxes of decades-old photos turn up in store basement

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/07/2024 (544 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Lisa McPherson could almost hear her late grandfather, Wilfred Favel, strumming his guitar, as she looked at a photo of him taken in the 1960s.

“I’m sure he’s playing Elvis in that picture,” she said with a laugh.

McPherson pulled the photograph from one of two envelopes, found among 30 unclaimed others, dating back to 1966-67, in the basement of Empire Drugs, at 801 Selkirk Ave. The North End pharmacy has been in business since 1927.

McPherson’s grandparents, including Wilfred’s wife Betty-Anne Favel, are frozen in time at a wedding ceremony and reception of a close friend, among the roughly 25 black-and-white and colour photos she claimed Thursday.

She saw them last in 2003, before they died.

“I have one picture of my grandparents and now I have two packages of photos,” McPherson said. “It’s like visiting with them all over again.”

Seeing Wilfred’s handwriting on the envelopes was “jarring” for McPherson.

“It almost makes me want to cry,” she said.

The couple was among the faces in some of the photos posted to a Facebook group on Tuesday by Empire Drugs supervisor Dwayne Hynes.

Hynes came upon the unclaimed photos in May while rummaging around in the basement, which was filled with Halloween costumes from the ’80s and ’90s, and other wares such as colouring books, toys and greeting cards, stored by previous owner Jim Harlowe.

“When I saw (the photos), I knew that this was going to be something important that I have to take care of,” Hynes said.

“I felt a responsibility to these people to have them returned to the relatives, because they would’ve meant something in the first place.

“Pictures were so important to people because that’s all they had to sort of document history and past experiences,” he said.

Hynes took to the “Growing up in Winnipeg 60s, 70s & 80s History & Culture” Facebook group to spread the word about his find.

“The response has been overwhelming and very positive, people are very grateful,” Hynes said.

The store used to be a drop-off point for undeveloped film, which would be sent to a film service for processing, before being returned for pickup.

Within the envelopes are images of a car crash, weddings, family trips, Christmas parties and graduations.

Hynes can only guess why the photos weren’t picked up decades ago, but names, dates and addresses on the yellowed envelopes provide some clues about their origins.

Five of the 30 envelopes had been collected as of Thursday morning, and Hynes said the excitement expressed by surviving relatives is undeniable.

He hopes all the photos can be collected after nearly 60 years, but for those left behind, Hynes hopes to ensure they’re not forgotten.

“My plan is to maybe just put them in photo albums and leave them here at the store for people to look through, and have sort of a history book in the store, because this is where it all started.”

» Winnipeg Free Press