Lost and Found

Tornado Survivors Find Keepsakes on Facebook

Photos, diplomas, quilts found miles away.

Some good news coming out of the South. The devastating tornadoes there tore apart homes and scattered their contents far and wide. Dozens of survivors have been reunited with their lost possessions on a Facebook lost and found created by Patty Bullion of Lester, Ala. Emily Washburn had nothing to remember her grandfather by after a tornado killed him and destroyed his Mississippi home. But then a picture of him and his dog popped up on Facebook, posted by a woman who found it in her office parking lot 175 miles away. A high school diploma that landed in a Lester front yard was returned to its owner in Tupelo, Miss., and a homemade quilt found in Athens, Ala., was brought back to its owner in the tiny town of Phil Campbell, Ala. Bullion started the lost and found when she saw her yard in Lester, Ala., littered with other people's keepsakes, including a sonogram. “I would want that back,” she said. So she started a page titled, “Pictures and Documents found after the April 27, 2011 Tornadoes.” By Friday evening more than 52,000 people had clicked the “like” button and more than 600 pictures had been posted.