Amazing Finds at Goodwill

Cara E.

Posted by Holly Hirsch on Jul 18, 2012 12:07:00 PM
AmazingFinds misc box

"On May 3rd or 4th I purchased a painting from the Goodwill store on West Mason street in Green Bay. I wasn't really interested in the painting, but the old brass frame was neat so I picked it up with the intention to repurpose the frame as an earring holder.

When I got home I took it apart and pried apart the layers of cardboard behind the painting. To my suprise there was a beautiful professional color portrait of a bride in the 1950s. She was a very dignified looking bride; big, beautiful dress, and the coloring was just so that it appeared to have been hand painted. The gold embossed stamp on the bottom of the photo said 'Reed Studio - Marshfield, WI.' I posted a photo of the portrait on my Facebook page to show some friends, I thought it might be fun to track down the owner.

I hit the Internet but couldn't find anything about Reed Studio. In the meantime I contacted numerous local historical societies, photography groups, and local libraries, but no one seemed to know what happened to the studio. Nor could they identify the woman in the portrait. Eventually I found an obituary for O. Reed, son of the original owner of Reed Studio in Marshfield. From there I tracked down his son in North Carolina who gave me some amazing history on his family's photography business, but still, no one recognized her.

I went back to Facebook and posted a photo of the portrait on the Marshfield, WI Facebook page. On May 17th, Marshfield's page shared the photo with their fans, and those fans shared the photo with their friends and family. Local radio and media stations also got hold of it and shared it. Within an hour we had success! A woman recognized the bridge as her grandmother!

She sent me a photo of the black and white copy of the portrait that she had (they didn't even know that a color version existed) and explained that the grandmother had passed away just recently on May 8th. May 17th would have been her 54th wedding anniversary. What a one-in-one million coincidence! I am truly saddened to hear of her passing, but I am excited and blessed that I will be able to return the portrait back to a very grateful, loving family. Love knows no bounds. So thank you Goodwill, for allowing me to take this journey."