NANAIMO -- Wendy is looking through the box she found at her mom’s house that’s filled with old film.

“She bought a projector [in Kelowna],” Wendy explains. “The film was in the box with the projector.”

The second-hand projector was purchased a decade ago and doesn’t work. The film features people nobody in Wendy’s family knew.

“This is someone’s life in a box,” Wendy says.

Someone with the last name Thompson, who, according to the labels on the film boxes, had preserved decades worth of moments from vacations to celebrations.

“It just breaks my heart that they’re not with who they should be with,” Wendy says.

Because of the pandemic, Wendy finally had time to search for the owners of the film and asked her son Chris for help.

“Everybody loves a mystery,” Chris says. “And I love the research part of it.”

Chris started sleuthing on social media, which led to sharing the details he discovered on the ‘Old Victoria BC’ Facebook page. His post was seen by a professional archivist named Taryn who found the death certificates of the people named on the film boxes. 

“From there, she managed to track down a relative in Winnipeg,” Chris explains. “Who put us in contact with one of the surviving sisters.”

One of the sisters named Marion just happened to live 15 minutes from Chris near Nanaimo. A decade-long mystery was solved in an afternoon. 

“The fact that it took less than six hours to go from posting it online to talking to them is just mind-boggling!” Chris says.

A couple days after they made contact on the phone, they met Marion in person.

“I wish I could hug you,” Wendy says fighting back tears as Marion walks up her driveway. 

“I’m so happy to get these back,” Marion says touching the film boxes. “Thank you.” 

Marion suspects the film was accidentally donated to charity during one of her parents moves, possibly from Enderby to Victoria. 

“[Probably] got mixed into the wrong pile,” Marion says. “And that was the end of it.”

But this is just the beginning for Marion’s family. You see, their past has been limited to memory.

“All the family keepsakes were left at my sister’s house,” Marion explains. “ And it burned to the ground and absolutely everything was gone.”

But now, all those baby firsts and wedding vows, all those simple moments in between that make life meaningful, can be seen again. 

When Marion returned home, she was only able to watch one of the 13 films on a borrowed projector. The others — dating back to the mid-1960s — didn’t work, and she’s unsure how she’ll share the footage with the rest of her family. 

But there’s no doubt she’s filled with gratitude for all the people who made this possible.

“To have this come back to us in such a miraculous way is just incredible,” Marion smiles.