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Once in a while, Volunteer Gary Brooke discovers some gems working on the Salmon Arm Observer photos. Gary deals with sundowner images from the sixties and seventies–aka not associated with a fixed address/issue of a paper.

One day Gary brought a particular photo to me. “I know that’s Vera Laitinen,” Gary said. “I thought you might like to see it.”

The black and white image showed Vera pouring coffee at a kitchen counter beside another woman. I did not know who the smaller (shorter) woman was and assumed Gary did not either. That was a mistake on my part.

I had another volunteer, Chuck Mobley, scan the photo and work on a description for some future newspaper submission.

I then took the photo to a board meeting thinking the members might be able to identify the unknown person holding the platter of cookies.

Patti Kassa, Museum Secretary, texted me the next day with a photo of the two women working in the Hospital Auxiliary Gift Shop.

Is this the other woman from your show-and-tell the other night?” Patti asked.

It looked like her, but older. Mrs. Laitinen was in both pictures and she, too, looked older with thinner hair. I knew Vera had passed away in 1985.

The photo was from the Denis Marshall collection featured in "Our History in Pictures" in the Salmon Arm Observer.  Denis identified May Morrow and Vera Laitinen. Patti also knew May Morrow in 1989 when she was even older.

“We all age,” I told Patti, thinking: When did my wrinkles and grey hair appear? COVID, I answered myself. I needed to find someone to confirm Patti’s identification, thinking of how some people don’t know me with wrinkles.

I texted Linda Painchaud, my archives mentor. Linda is the President of the local chapter of the Okanagan Historical Society. She knows a lot about Salmon Arm. Her mother was Reba Harper. Her grandfather was W.J. Honey, the photographer.

Linda texted back, “Mrs. Morrow may have touched 5’ on a good day. She was tiny and dark-haired. My Mum was 5’ and Mrs. M was shorter.”

“Mrs. Morrow is on the left,” Linda wrote referring to the coffee and cookies photograph.

The next week Gary weighed in again. “Of course, that’s May Morrow,” he confirmed.

I should have asked him first!

We still don’t know the exact year the photograph was taken, but it was between 1976 and 1985. We don’t know the occasion either. What we do know, though, is that May was protecting those cookies from some Observer photographer!