Reuniting a family with their past

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Reuniting a family with their past; You really need to hear this story.
Tweet Topic Started: Oct 2 2007, 09:34 PM (916 Views)
greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 2 2007, 09:34 PM Post #1
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	All I have a story I want to tell you. This has all happened since Sunday night and it’s a story that even today I still can’t believe has unfolded the way it has. There are so many lessons and heart warming things here I can’t begin to cover them all I’ll let you all do that. This is long and detailed story but it’s in the details that make this story what it is. It started on Sunday night when I was making my rounds through the old trailer park housing are here in the base looking for more flowers to save/transplant. That area will be demolished and made into new houseing and all the trees and grounds will be redone. On my drive through I saw a set of flowers and stopped, along the driveway was a pile of rubble and out of curiosity I took a look. As I got closer I saw an old trunk that was half way open. I walked up and when I opened it I was FLOORED at what I saw. This trunk was filled with 1000’s of photos. In was in bad disarray as it looked as if others had gone through it as well (I’m sure is was the grounds guys who emptied the shed still on sight) As I went through it I was just heart broken as what this trunk represented. There was photos here going back at least to 1947 and more likely longer. This was a whole family in this trunk! Their history and joyful moments… accomplishments, marriages… It made me sick it was left and not in the hands of the family. I walked back to the truck and told my wife what I had found. She asked is there anything inside with a name on it. “I don’t know let me go look” I went back and I found high school year books from 1966 and 67 photo albums and 1 baby book! I opened it up and it had the baby and family info written inside for a baby born on June 16th 1978. I took it back to the truck and my wife said well it’s a start. I’ll start looking tomorrow and I said I’ll look on the global email list at work for Marines with the name of Moriarity. I looked and found nothing! My wife started with the fathers name Doug Moriarity but didn’t find a whole lot but did find a couple of web sites about surfing and they mentioned this name, one of those being a video on youtube. My wife blew all that off and changed her search to the babies name “James Michael (jay) Moriarity” then she started getting hits. Most of them web sites about a surfer named Jay and about his death on June 15th 2001. It was then she remembered the video on youtube and web back to it as it was about surfing. In that video there was an email address at the end to a Doug Moriarity. HUMMM father of the baby was named Doug. She sent me that address and I picked up the search from that point. In one of the 25 articles I read about Jay’s funeral it mentioned his uncle came from out of state to attend his funeral and his name was Terry Caretto. BAM there was the hit I needed! The babies moms madden name was Caretto. NOW I knew who this baby book was talking about and who the family is. I drafted an email to send to the hotmail address my wife had found on the youtube video. I had no hopes that this address was any good any more but it was a start. Here is the email I sent. Mr Moriarity My name is Gary Walker I'm a US Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA. This email is going to sound very strange to you but please bare with me. I can't quiet piece it all together myself. Aboard Camp Pendleton (near San Clemente, CA) there is a housing area that was a trailer park. This housing area is being demolished and the trailers in that park are being moved off. My wife and I like flowers so as the trailers were being taken off the base we are transplanting some of the flowers planted by the previous owners that were left behind. Yesterday while going through the park I noticed a pile of what looked like rubble while heading over to look at some flowers. In that rubble was an old truck. Kind of like an old steamers trunk from the old days. Inside that trunk it was PACKED with old photo albums and 1000's of loose pictures. Some going back as far as the mid 40's! Also in that trunk was a baby book. This baby book was for a little boy named James Michael (jay) Moriarity, born in Augusta, GA in June 16th 1978 at Ft Gordon Hospital. The babies Mom and dads name is Doug and Kristy (maiden name is Caretto) He has a sister named Daniela. I have not gone through the whole trunk but this baby book is the one thing I saw that might help me track down the family these pictures belong to. In the rubble was also a wooden sign with the family name of Moriarity on it. I truly want to find the family these pictures belong to as it's decades of family history! Family is very important to me and just can not fathom how I would feel loosening such an item. In doing a Google search of the baby's name my wife came up with information about Jay and his surfing. In one blog site she found the information about his birth place and date and even birth weight almost matched perfectly. I'm not able to connect the Marine Corps and you and this trunk together. I have looked into see if I could find a Marine named Moriarity on the global email list in my work computer but found nothing. I don't know if this trunk has been here a long while, or if just recently left. My wife got this email address at the end of a video on youtube about Jay. I really would like to get these back to the family they belong to! Would you be able to help me? Can you think of a Marine Corps connection with your family? Any information you might have will be most helpful. In the mean time I kept up my search. I changed the search criteria in Google a few times and got another hit. I found pictures of Jay and his WIFE on webshots! SOO he was married and her name is Kim… So I started searching for Kim Moriarity. More hits! In fact I found a lot of articles about Jay and his wife but most of them were about his funeral. But in one article I read it said “Moriarty's widow Kim keeps herself aligned with his spirit these days running the Jay Moriarty Foundation, which she founded to carry on his legacy of youth mentoring” BAM another big hit and I found the web site for this foundation and it said his wife started it and guess what? They have an email address!! SO I sent the same basic email to the email address on the web site so now I have two emails in cyber space trying to find this family. Many of the articles I read talked about the life and times of Jay. Most of them were a good history of his life and his achievements, and who he was. I learned A LOT about this man who had a love of live noticed by all. A way of living that influenced so many others to be better then they were, and to reach for great achievements!! SO MUCH info about him it was hard not to get caught up in what he did and his accomplishments. One article I read best summed up this man and his passion and love of life so many admired. I’ll share that with you. “In a dozen short years, from the first time he paddled a surfboard out at Santa Cruz until his untimely death from a free-diving accident in the Maldives, Jay Moriarty earned a reputation in the sport that will prevail indefinitely. His much-heralded big-wave exploits and longboard expertise only dabble the first few brushstrokes of a life lived as a masterpiece. In an earlier era, Moriarty would have been just one of the boys, but to contrast his waterman's spirit with that of other modern professional surfers, his clear vision offers a much-needed dose of fresh air. His infectious smile and sense of humility defined him, and in death they continue to spread out from his Northern California playground to each corner of the world.” Another said this "It was never about telling people he got the biggest wave," recalled tow-in partner Jeff Clark. "It was always about pure enjoyment. Jay was a surfer with no ego. Whether he was helping somebody who had never been on a surfboard or was surfing with the best in the world, he never had a bad word to say. He was one in a billion." This is what his funeral looked like in the water while spreading his ashes I went home and my wife said she would be on pins and needles until we got a reply. I to was wondering if we would find them or was this a dead end? Maybe this trunk was not forgotten but instead thrown out!! The next morning I got to work, fired up my computer, and opened up my email! HOLY JUMPING JOHOSAFAT I said (to myself) out loud I got a response!!! Here is that response. Dear Mr. Walker, The photos you found are of my family. Jay is my son, who as I'm sure you found in your search, died the day before his 23rd birthday on June 15, 2001. His sister is the connection to the Marines. Her name is Daniela TrXXX. She is going through a divorce from her Marine husband (second). She lived in one of the trailers at Camp Pendleton. When I separated from Kristy, she took all of the photos and was going to make me albums, so that I would have some of the pictures. She never did it, and when she died last February I thought I would never see the photos again. My daughter works at the MichXXXX on Avenida Pico in San Clemente. Her cell phone number is: XXX-XXX-XXXX. You don't know how much those photos would mean to me if I could get them back. I currently live in Panama, so the best way to get them to me is through my daughter. I appreciate all that you have done tracking us down. You're right that family is everything. I would love to at least have the photos. Thanks for writing. I look forward to hearing from you again. Sincerely, Doug Moriarity WOW I was blown away! I actually found the family and he lives in PANAMA! Go figure. Isn’t internet a great thing? I instantly sent him a reply. “Sir I'm extremely happy I found you and your family. Your email has truly made me smile inside. In my searching I also found the foundation that Jays wife Kim created http://www.michaeljohnparker.com/jaymoriar...bout/index.html After reading an article that stated she created this foundation I sent them an email as well but your email is the first reply I received. Honestly I can't believe your email address actually worked! I guess it was Gods plan for me to find this trunk In fact in has been a blessing to me as I have in my reading kind of gotten to know your son Jay and he really meant a lot to a lot of people! His love of life is VERY evident to all and his infectious love of life really caused others to catch the same love. I think it is I who was blessed in this find If it's ok I think I'm going to sort through the pictures and put them in zip lock bags to better protect them and give them to your daughter that way. I'll contact her today and let her know I have them and arrange with her the transfer” After that I called the number he gave me and asked to speak to Daniela TrXXX. You could hear the hesitation in her voice. I said Hi my name is Gary Walker I’m a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA and I was going through the old trailer park Sunday and found an old trunk near what I now know is where you used to live. Inside I found a baby book and it was for your brother Jay. My wife and I searched the internet and started putting pieces of this puzzle together through web sites and articles about your brother in order to find the family that belong to. IN that search we found and email address for your dad so I sent him and email and he stated you were the connection in the family to the Marine Corps. After a 5 seconds of silence she started talking. “OH MY GOD, I can’t believe you have those pictures. My EX was suppose to put that trunk in storage months ago but after looking for it I discovered it was not there and figured it was lost forever with no hope of finding it. You have no idea what this means to me. Is that trunk trashed? Why no it still works but it’s in terrible shape. That trunk was my great grandfathers he brought it back from WWI and I want to get it back I can’t believe you have it!” She will be coming over tomorrow to pick all this up and I plan to take a picture of the family reunited to their past when she gets her. Kind of closing out this story and putting an end to what I feel is a HUGR personal achievement. My wife is the one who drove this train to reunite this family I was simply following her lead. I have to say this is a GREAT day for me one I will ALWAYS remember and one I had to write down not unlike my chronicles. This story will also set on my hard drive to look at in years to come. If any of you would like to get to know Jay I would encourage you to look him up on Google. I think you will find this man is not just a surfer, he is a man with a love of life many try to emulate. Indeed it has been my pleasure to learn about him. In fact his way of living is not to unlike my own, I guess this is why I connected to him. Boy can the Lord work in mysterious ways! God Bless you all!



Ali	Oct 2 2007, 11:06 PM Post #2
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 1,565 Group: Member Member #102 Joined: December 1, 2006	I think this is the most wonderful story that I've heard in a very long time! A piece of 'junk' left behind, and a guy like you (who isn't just your 'normal' guy) and your wonderful wife, 'treasue hunting' for nothing you need ...just having some fun! You came across 'junk' and knew immediately that it was someones treasure! And you FOUND the someone!! Pete and I just find it simply amazing! Good job done! Only thing lacking is the 'chicken dance'!! Let everybody know what happy feels like!!



Almtnman	Oct 3 2007, 06:15 AM Post #3
Administrator Posts: 5,413 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: December 22, 2004	Gary, that was a wonderful story about a family and the lost photos. Thank you and your wife for reuniting the photos and the trunk with the family. That was a very honorable and good thing that the both of you did for that family.



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 3 2007, 08:01 AM Post #4
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	I can't wait to meet the sister today! Thank you for your kind words and I'll make sure to close this out with a picture of her reunited



Toothless Dawg	Oct 3 2007, 08:31 AM Post #5
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 4,826 Group: Member Member #22 Joined: August 25, 2006	Awesome ... ya gotta love it when a plan comes together. Congrats and well done!!!



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 3 2007, 10:32 AM Post #6
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	This is one of those events in a persons live that not only makes you feel good BUT validates the fact that God is looking out for people. He is looking out for this family and for me. My life has been influenced by this event and the life and memory of Jay is still spreading out! Now you all know of Jay as well He is still influencing people and has been gone for 6 years. God is a wonderful God, the Holy One is truly the master of all things.



legitlinda	Oct 3 2007, 10:35 AM Post #7
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,746 Group: Member Member #29 Joined: September 6, 2006	greatwhiteelkhunter,Oct 3 2007 08:32 AM This is one of those events in a persons live that not only makes you feel good BUT validates the fact that God is looking out for people. He is looking out for this family and for me. My life has been influenced by this event and the life and memory of Jay is still spreading out! Now you all know of Jay as well He is still influencing people and has been gone for 6 years. God is a wonderful God, the Holy One is truly the master of all things. Amen...Great job!



Sunshine	Oct 3 2007, 11:54 AM Post #8
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,508 Group: Member Member #53 Joined: November 19, 2006	Just goes to show that angels really do exist . GWEH you are a very special angel and I know God sent you here. No doubt in my mind. God Bless you .I hope I get the honor of meeting you and your beautiful family one day.



Duke	Oct 3 2007, 11:55 AM Post #9
Duke Posts: 1,243 Group: Member Member #19 Joined: August 22, 2006	Very uplifting. Some people would have just walked away from what they found, letting a chunk of someone else's family history fade away. Thanks for finding where they belonged and for sharing the story with us, Duke



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 3 2007, 06:32 PM Post #10
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	I sent a link to this story to Jays father Doug yesterday as i thought he might like to see some of the details that lead me to him. He came onto the board and said the story brought tears to his eyes to read it. he stated he tried to reply and give his thanks as well but it would not allow him to post. So i offered to post his reply for him. I believe he will be sending that to me so I should be posting that tomorrow. I also received a phone call from Kim's mother (Jays mother in law) she is who received the second email i sent to the foundation. She too was floored by the events and the fact they were getting the pictures back. I found out as well that Jay's mother passed away this past Feb so of the original family Only his father and sister are left (except for by marriage relatives) so yet another reason I'm glad i was able to get these back to them.... Still unwinding Not sure where it will go More later



Culture Warrior	Oct 3 2007, 08:12 PM Post #11
an Angry American Posts: 4,794 Group: Member Member #30 Joined: September 6, 2006	GREAT WORK, GARY!!!! Yes, God has helped you bring these family treasures together with the family the belong to.



dougm	Oct 3 2007, 08:35 PM Post #12
Member Posts: 2 Group: Member Member #344 Joined: October 3, 2007	Thanks Gary for all you've done. You are all correct that Gary and his wife did a wonderful thing tracking us down and returning the photos to my daughter. They seem like a very special couple. I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank them enough. Doug



Almtnman	Oct 3 2007, 08:44 PM Post #13
Administrator Posts: 5,413 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: December 22, 2004	Doug, Gary is a very special guy. He has served his time in Iraq and seems to do things right all the time. I was very pleased to see that he found the photos and tracked the family down so they could have them returned. That was a very rewarding thing that not only him and his wife did, it was rewarding to read that we have people that would go to that kind of length or trouble to do the right thing. Welcome to the forum!



Ali	Oct 3 2007, 08:59 PM Post #14
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 1,565 Group: Member Member #102 Joined: December 1, 2006	Doug! It was so nice of you to post your words here! I'm so sorry about Jay's passing all to soon. Looks to me like he's watching over things though! He "introduced" you to a couple of more angels here on earth!



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 3 2007, 09:51 PM Post #15
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	like I said in my email I hope we do get to meet and I certainly do want to keep in contact with you. God Bless you and as soon as the photos are picked up I'll let you know. Thank you for your kind words and i meant everything I have said about Jay! I'm very privileged to have at least been able to read about him. Someone I'll remember for a long time to come! Gary Walker CWO4 USMC BTW all Doug is a retired CWO3 from the US Army! THANK YOU for your service Doug!



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 11 2007, 10:47 AM Post #16
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	Just bumping this back up to the top.



Condor	Oct 13 2007, 02:37 AM Post #17
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,088 Group: Member Member #12 Joined: August 21, 2006	I purchased a CF module from Unclaimed Baggage a little over a month ago. I recovered it and found some photos as well. My story doesn't come out nearly as well. I got an address from a photo of a newly built house that the couple were soon to move into. I got a phone number from that. I tried to call the number and found that it had been disconnected. I later discovered that the house was up for sale. The address was a town near Minneapolis. I looked at the list of people who died on the bridge and think I found the couple. Not sure and I have been trying to find relatives to send the photos to. My PC crashed last week, and I think I had backed up the photos but am not sure.



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 13 2007, 04:03 PM Post #18
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	know I have in the past lost alot of info on 2 computer crashes. About 3 years ago I began a monthly back up of info on to an external hard drive. I save no work on my work computer ,I save everything on this external hard drive. It's small but is 160 G in size. The one I have just for the home computer is 80G in size and fits into the firebox easy!! I label the hard drive with the date of the last back up and then I know what needs to be added based on the Modified date in windows explorer. I would highly suggest you get a small external hard drive and start backing things up on it. You can get some GREAT deals on some on ebay and to know that all that data will not be lost AND can be portable to use on your lap top (if you have one) is just work ANY money you spend on the hard drive. It is a great insurance policy and real piece of mind.



Almtnman	Oct 13 2007, 04:13 PM Post #19
Administrator Posts: 5,413 Group: Admin Member #1 Joined: December 22, 2004	I bought a 320G external at Wally-World a few months back and all my documents, pictures, genealogy files etc. gets stored on it. I got it for 130 bucks, but I see now that you can get a 500G for about that price now. What I like about it is I can unplug it, take it with me and all I need is a USP port on any computer to get right back to my files.



Condor	Oct 13 2007, 10:51 PM Post #20
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,088 Group: Member Member #12 Joined: August 21, 2006	Been doing that. I usually do a straight copy because the backup software can fail you, but a straight copy is a pretty sure thing. Just don't remember whether I had copied that particular file set. I was weirded out when I found out that they were likely killed on the bridge.



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 15 2007, 08:01 AM Post #21
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	I label the drive with tape with the date of last back up. Then once a month I back up again. All I do is sort all the files by date and copy everything from that date on the drive to present. At most all I will loose is a month of data or pictures. AND it is Mobil



Toothless Granny	Oct 16 2007, 08:43 AM Post #22
Advanced Member Posts: 152 Group: Member Member #69 Joined: November 20, 2006	I just wanted to add my congratulations to Gary and his family. Being the official historian for both sides of my family, I know how important that kind of information is. Not to mention the memories they stimulate. Thank you both, Gary and Doug, for your service to our country, our people and our way of life! ! ! !



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 16 2007, 10:11 AM Post #23
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	Toothless Granny,Oct 16 2007 07:43 AM I just wanted to add my congratulations to Gary and his family. Being the official historian for both sides of my family, I know how important that kind of information is. Not to mention the memories they stimulate. Thank you both, Gary and Doug, for your service to our country, our people and our way of life! ! ! ! Thank you Granny! Sounds like we both appreciate the same things.



greatwhiteelkhunter	Oct 16 2007, 11:55 AM Post #24
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	Well I just received a phone call from a local radio station about this story. They want to talk to me on the air about it next Tuesday. I gladly will do that so I just send an email to Doug to insure it’s ok. For any of you in the San Diego area the radio station is KSON 93.1 and I plan to talk to them at 0830 not sure when the story will air but they will be recording it and paying it ;later. Kind of cool they would be willing to do this! I guess it just goes to show that the spirit of a humble loved man can live on and on and can still affect others! YEP God is sure at work here!! http://www.kson.com/



greatwhiteelkhunter	Nov 1 2007, 09:58 PM Post #25
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	I wanted to let you all know something cool that happened to me because of this trunk. I sent the story I wrote on here to a local radio station. They read it and wanted to interview me and so we set up a time. Then the fires came and it was pushed back a week. Then yesterday I did the interview and was just enjoying telling the story and they told me that because of what we did they were doing to double mu military paycheck!! They have a program where they double military pay checks for people and most of the time they are in real need so I felt very embarrassed about this and they said we deserved it for going out of our way to get the pictures back. Anyway I just wanted to let you know this and to add one more thing. Because of the deployment and the moving of the family back home were a bit strapped for money and really needed some extra cash. Low and behold when we needed it and because of a trunk of old pictures and some effort on our part we get the money we needed!! This is exactly what I try to tell people about God working in your life and you just never know what is going to happen. This amazing story just keeps getting better!!!!!!



legitlinda	Nov 2 2007, 12:56 PM Post #26
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,746 Group: Member Member #29 Joined: September 6, 2006	God is good! What station was it?



greatwhiteelkhunter	Nov 2 2007, 07:24 PM Post #27
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	legitlinda,Nov 2 2007 11:56 AM God is good! What station was it? KSON 93.1



Sunshine	Nov 2 2007, 07:45 PM Post #28
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,508 Group: Member Member #53 Joined: November 19, 2006	I am very happy for you . If you will send me the story I will send it to Fox news and some other stations and see if they will contact you. I want you to be acknowleged. By the way what is a MU !!! GWEH Said " they told me that because of what we did they were doing to double mu military paycheck!!



greatwhiteelkhunter	Nov 2 2007, 11:18 PM Post #29
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	Sunshine,Nov 2 2007 06:45 PM I am very happy for you . If you will send me the story I will send it to Fox news and some other stations and see if they will contact you. I want you to be acknowleged. By the way what is a MU !!! GWEH Said " they told me that because of what we did they were doing to double mu military paycheck!! Sorry!! My computer has to play catch up some times and I don't notice the misspellings. It's suppose to be "MY"



dougm	Nov 24 2007, 09:56 PM Post #30
Member Posts: 2 Group: Member Member #344 Joined: October 3, 2007	Hey Gary, Congratulations. I'm glad the interview went well. The money was well earned. Thanks again for everything. Thank you also for your service. I still hope I get to meet you before you leave. Doug



greatwhiteelkhunter	Nov 26 2007, 10:55 PM Post #31
Ruler of the Mountain Posts: 2,458 Group: Member Member #31 Joined: September 7, 2006	dougm,Nov 24 2007 08:56 PM Hey Gary, Congratulations. I'm glad the interview went well. The money was well earned. Thanks again for everything. Thank you also for your service. I still hope I get to meet you before you leave. Doug Well I see your coming back to CA I sure hope it does work out if we stay in contact it should. Please keep me in the lop and I'll do the same! I'll buy you a beer or a hot cup of coffee and shot the breeze and tell war stories!!



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