By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HAGERSVILLE—Lana Jones-Anderson was in for quite a surprise when she logged into her Facebook account on January 18, 2023. Instead of the usual memes and pictures of friend’s kids that typically populate her feed, she found herself looking at unseen photos from her mom and dad’s wedding, sent to a local church from a stranger on the other side of the world.
The photos capture moments from September 21, 1968, when Caroyln Jones Ryan married Bruce Jones. They were developed from film found in an old camera that retired Italian professor Gabriele Giorgi purchased from an antiques shop in Toronto while visiting Canada back in 1998.
The camera that took the lost photos —photo courtesy of Gabriele Giorgi.
Giorgi, who lives in Bologna, Italy, explained, “I went to Vancouver to attend a geology conference. I stopped for a few days in Toronto where I bought an old Kodak camera in a big antiquary shop in the city centre; I am a collector of old cameras. Once back in Italy, I realized that there was a film inside the camera.”
He said curiosity drove him to get the film developed. Seeing the wedding photos, Giorgi proceeded to put them on the shelf in a box, not to be touched again for many years.
“I recently found them again and, on a closer inspection, I saw that on one picture there was a plaque on the church wall with the name of the town and church,” explained Giorgi. “Using the internet, I found the website of the Hagersville Springvale Pastoral Charge, to which I sent the images.”
Lana said she was shocked when she first saw the images, and a flood of messages from friends and family who had seen a viral post about the photos made by the church.
“It was really strange to see them so many years later, especially with my dad passing away 25 years ago,” said Lana.
Lana’s mom, who recalled the wedding as the “happiest, most exciting” day of her life, was “amazed” at the discovery of the photos and the story behind their travels.
She shared her memories of the day: “The sun was shining, we took pictures in the park after the church, and then we had a reception and a dinner at the church, and then we had a dance and reception at the community centre at night.”
Hagersville United Pastor Peggy Bartlett said she was blown away by the response the photos generated online, noting that the post reached over 10,000 people within an hour of her first sharing it.
Lana said she has enjoyed hearing people’s reactions to the photos, which showcase how different life was in Hagersville back in the 1960s.
She added, “Everybody was like, ‘Oh my goodness, look at the wedding tape on the car’. Everything has changed so much today.”
Lana said her parents had a big wedding party, with 19 members, which “for a small town it was quite large.”
Carolyn was the daughter of local bicycle repairman Cecil Swing. The white house depicted behind the bridal party in one of the retrieved photos is the home Carolyn grew up in. It still stands, across the road from Hagersville Foodland. Carolyn spent her younger years in Hagersville working at Enzo’s Restaurant, a popular spot in town back in the day.
Lana said the discovery of the photos is made all the sweeter by their connection to Hagersville United: “The United Church is where my mom went to church as a child; she was born and raised in Hagersville and went there for Sunday school. I was baptized there, and we’ve had a few funeral services there. It’s our go-to church, even though we now live in Hamilton.”
Not part of the lost set, this photo shows the happy couple on September 21, 1968. —Photo courtesy of Lana Jones-Anderson
Giorgi expressed his amazement that such an old camera captured such great images: “I sent these photographs hoping that they will be a pleasant surprise for the people filmed, or at least for their relatives.”
