Once upon a time, Wayne Hillman gave his love, Trudy, two photos to remember him by before he shipped off to Vietnam.
More than 50 years later, the photos turned up in an unlikely place -- in a copy of the "An Anthology of Woodwinds", a book in the music library at Catholic Central High School in Windsor.
Teacher Ryan Turgeon found them while browsing through the books recently.
"All I knew was three things," says Turgeon. "I knew his name was Wayne. I knew he may have or still loved someone named Trudy, and I saw the last name on his uniform started with the letter H."
Fascinated by the photo, he took to social media in a bid to reunite the pictures with their owner. The post went viral.
Soon, someone sent him an obituary for Trudy Hillman. A Google search led Turgeon to another photo taken during Remembrance Day ceremonies, and finally to Hillman's adult children.
"Ten-odd years ago, they did a couple of visits to some schools, one of which was Catholic Central," says Turgeon. "How the photos ended up in the cover of a book, safe and sound, put away, I have no idea... His daughter commented on the viral thread that she was loving the idea that Mom was sending Dad a Valentine from heaven."
Hillman was reunited with the photos Wednesday morning.
