7/1/2026
SANIBEL, Fla. (WINK)— A box of family memories found on Sanibel decades ago has resurfaced, and WINK News needs your help reuniting these treasures with their rightful owners.
Olympia Lynch, a self-proclaimed garage sale enthusiast, couldn't resist purchasing the box filled with old photographs and documents. The woman selling the items told Lynch she found them in a dumpster on Sanibel after Hurricane Charley hit Southwest Florida in 2004.
"There was this huge, there was this box on the driveway with all old photos, and I'm always interested in looking at everything," Lynch explained.
Inside the box are wedding albums, a baby book from 1952, and various family documents.
"She (the seller) said it's been sitting in storage since Charley, and I said, 'Wow, do you like have any idea who they are?' And she said, 'No,'" Lynch said.
Lynch brought the box to a WINK Listens event, hoping WINK News could help reunite the memories with their owners.
"I bought it specifically because I knew that Wink Listens was going to be doing this, and that I would be able to bring the box and hopefully get you all to put them together," she said.
WINK is now asking for the community's help in identifying the families in these photos. Were you living on Sanibel in 2004 around the time of Hurricane Charley? Do any of the faces look familiar? Do you have a relative who was born in 1952?
"It's just amazing the pictures that are in here and their wedding pictures and baby pictures and different documents, and it's a whole box, so I'm hoping that we can possibly put these families back together," Lynch added.
Key names found in the documents include the Darnstaedts and Wehmanns. There is also a list of names from the wedding of Kathryn Starr and James G. Sheridan.
"It's someone's history, and their family needs to have it back," Lynch said.
If you can help connect these memories with their owners, contact WINK News at Tips@WINKNews.com.
