MVPD Returns Long Lost WWII-Era Photo Album To Los Gatos Woman

SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CA — It was a reunion Mountain View Police Department had hoped would happen for months as Janice Duncan, 92, of Los Gatos walked into the lobby Friday morning and was handed a photo album she hadn't seen in 35 years. "It's like seeing an old friend," Duncan said as she opened the pages and saw black-and-white images encapsulating much of her teenage and young adult life at the height of World War II.

Officer Mike Taber had wrapped the album carefully in burlap and twine much like presents were wrapped during the World War II era. He and Sgt. Wahed Magee stood anxiously as they watched Duncan and her sister, Nancy Jacobs, walk up to retrieve their photos.

The album was found in August at a homeless encampment, covered in muddy footprints.

The discovery launched a three-month effort by community service officers Leslie Hardie and Jodie Pierce to find its owner.

"... It took no time at all to realize that this album needed to get home to its family," said Katie Nelson, spokeswoman for the Mountain View Police Department. "Smiling men and women, children playing in a river, this album was a detailed snapshot of someone’s life."

Hardie and Pierce scoured tirelessly through records, seeing if they could find out to whom this album may have belonged, Nelson said. A call for help on social media led to a nationwide search, but few leads turned up.

Then, one day, a breakthrough: Hardie and Pierce noticed a name that matched as they were searching on Ancestry.com, and realized that the woman they had found – Janice – lived nearby.

"We immediately reached out, only to learn that the home that Janice had owned in Sunnyvale had been sold and she had moved down the road to Los Gatos," Nelson said.

Mountain View police reached out to Janice Duncan's younger sister Nancy Jacobs, who told them they had no idea the album had been missing, but would very much like to have it back.

Decked out in holiday sweaters, the sisters arrived at the police station, anxious to view and hold the album.

Among the photos? Snapshots of a young Janice and Nancy spending a summer on the Russian River. A portrait of their father. A 1942 class photo from Nancy’s time at Mills College.

"I just can't believe it," Jacobs said.

Duncan said she hadn't seen the images in 35 years.

Nelson said it's "truly a case to remember" and thanked everyone who helped spread the word about the album.

"It’s moments like these that make our job indescribable – it’s old-fashioned police work at its finest, but it’s also so much more," Nelson said. "What a joy to be able to reunite the memories with the women who made them."

Photos courtesy Mountain View Police Department