Among the many things Robin Hardin’s family lost in the May 22, 2011, tornado were dozens of photos, but many of them were found and returned to her through the “Lost Photos of Joplin” project, including this shot of her uncle Guy K. MacFarland getting his USAF wings in the early 1950s. “This is the iconic photo of my uncle,” she said, “and I’m very glad to get it back. He passed in 2007.”
Courtesy Robin Hardin
Robin Hardin: “This is the wedding of my parents, Jim and Sandra Ridings, along with both sets of grandparents, taken on the steps of the Methodist church in East Boothbay, Maine, September 13, 1958. I love this photo. I don’t know how it was ever found. My father is the only one in the photo still living, and I miss the rest of them.”
Courtesy Robin Hardin
“Jim and Laura Ridings, my father and my niece, in 2001. It was found at 21st and Patterson, in the path of the storm. My niece is now 13. They are in the living room I no longer have. My cat Harley, on the back of the chair, lived through the tornado — amazingly, as she was elderly then. She has since passed. My other two cats made it through the storm too, though we didn’t find them for two days — then all in the location of the house, one trapped in debris.”
Courtesy Robin Hardin
“This is Wes Hardin, my husband Keith’s son. This photo was taken on Halloween, near 1991. It was found the furthest from our house, in a field in Bolivar, Missouri. We’re so grateful to the people who returned it. Keith only found two photos from the ‘Lost Photos’ project, though I had over 80 returned. He was fortunate that most of his were in albums, in a filing cabinet that fell from our second story to the ground.”
Courtesy Robin Hardin
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