'Precious to somebody': Woman hoping to find owner of pictures discovered in old desk - East Idaho News
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‘Precious to somebody’: Woman hoping to find owner of pictures discovered in old desk

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Brittni Johnson

Brittni Johnson, EastIdahoNews.com

Rebecca Morgan, a teacher at Hobbs Middle School, and her student Mageigh Hayes, are seen with 12 pictures that they're trying to return back to the owner.
Rebecca Morgan, a teacher at Hobbs Middle School, and her student Mageigh Hayes, are seen with 12 pictures that they’re trying to return to the owner. | Courtesy Mageigh Hayes
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SHELLEY — A local teacher who bought a desk for her classroom and found old pictures tucked inside is hoping to find the family members they belong to.

Rebecca Morgan is a seventh-grade teacher at Hobbs Middle School in Shelley, where she has taught for eight years. She went from teaching eighth grade to seventh grade, and when she moved classrooms she wanted to get a different teacher’s desk than what was already in the room.

“I like to look on online auctions all the time,” Morgan said. “And there was this place in Ammon, I think they are out of business, but they used to have a thrift store called ‘Backyard Bargains,’ and they had an online auction for a while. I saw a desk on there, and I think I bid $5 or $10.”

She said when people didn’t pay on their storage units, “Backyard Bargains” would buy whatever was in those storage units and sell those items at auctions.

Morgan, who won the bid on the desk, said it is older and not anything beautiful, but it is a big metal desk that she knew would work for what she needed.

The desk Rebecca Morgan bought that had the pictures inside.
The desk Rebecca Morgan bought that had the pictures inside. | Courtesy photo

About five or six years ago, her student aides were organizing her desk when they asked Morgan what she wanted them to do with the pictures in one of the drawers.

“I’m like, ‘What pictures?'” she recalled.

That’s when she learned there were a dozen pictures hiding inside a drawer. An envelope that reads “Aunt Berta” was also found with the pictures.

“They are old. Some of them are dated back to 1930, and some 1960s,” Morgan said. “There are people on horses with little farm dogs. Some of the land features look like southeast Idaho in the background. But it’s sagebrush, so there’s nothing you can really tell for sure.”

There are names on the back of a few of the pictures. Some of those names are Jane Shupe, Grace Covert, Chloe and George, aunt Josephine and aunt Mary.

The envelope addressed to "Aunt Berta" with 12 pictures inside.
The envelope addressed to “Aunt Berta” with 12 pictures inside. | Courtesy Rebecca Morgan

Morgan told the aides to put the pictures back in her drawer. She said she didn’t know what to do with them, so they’ve been sitting there for years.

But earlier this month, a few of Morgan’s students were at her desk when they came across the same pictures. The students asked why their teacher didn’t throw the pictures away since they weren’t hers.

“They’re someone else’s memories, and I couldn’t just throw them away because they’re probably precious to somebody,” Morgan told her students.

“I have pictures, and my pictures are important to me,” she added. “If someone found mine, I would want someone to return them to me if they possibly could.”

One of her students, Mageigh Hayes, suggested they find out who the pictures belong to. Hayes reached out to EastIdahoNews.com in hopes that the owner of the pictures, or relatives of those in the pictures, could be reconnected with them.

“I think it would be a neat thing if we could find out who they belong to,” Morgan said.

If anyone has information on who the pictures belong to, Morgan asks that they contact EastIdahoNews.com by sending an email to news@eastidahonews.com or by calling 208-528-6397.

PHOTO GALLERY:
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought off an online auction.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

Writing on the back of one of the pictures.
Writing on the back of one of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought off an online auction.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

Writing on the back of one of the pictures.
Writing on the back of one of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

people in pic
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

Writing on the back of one of the pictures.
Writing on the back of one of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

Writing on the back of one of the pictures.
Writing on the back of one of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan.
One of the pictures found in an envelope stashed inside a desk that was bought by Rebecca Morgan. | Courtesy photo

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