Forrest Gump was right

Forrest Gump said his momma told him that, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." 

He could have been talking about the Internet. 

Today I discovered online the above photo, scanned from the 1929 yearbook of Central Wesleyan College in Warrenton, Mo., which closed its doors during the Great Depression. It’s a picture of my father, Gilbert Leach Dryden. Dad was born in 1907 which would make him 21 or 22, a college senior. He died in 1966 when I was 14. It is one of, perhaps, ten photographs of my father in existence. Nobody in my family had ever seen it.

How’d I find it? I was talking on the phone with my 101-year-old mother about an obscure relative. I asked her when he died and where he was buried. Mom said she wasn’t sure. So I went to a website I’ve visited a few times, findagrave.com, where you can enter the name of the person you’re looking for and, if you’re lucky, find a picture of his or her tombstone and, sometimes if you’re extra lucky, a copy of the person’s obituary from the local newspaper and, on rare occasions, even a photo.

I didn’t find the relative but one thing led to another and I started looking for other family graves. I’ve visited my father's grave at Mr. Pleasant Cemetery in High Hill, Mo. many times over the years on findagrave.com but on today's visit I was startled to find him peering back at me.

According to a caption under the photo, it was provided to findagrave.com by a genealogy buff who researches descendants of people with the surname of Coleman, the name of my dad’s Irish grandmother. I can’t imagine how this ( I assume he is a) distant relative found the photo but I’m grateful he did. 

If you haven’t checked out findagrave, com, do. You may not find exactly what you’re looking for. On the other hand, you might find something even better.