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Photo lost in Illinois tornado found 35 miles away, returned to grieving widower

Posted at 4:54 PM, Apr 14, 2015
and last updated 2015-04-14 16:54:22-04

FAIRDALE, Ill. —  A photo of an Illinois couple that was lost during last week's tornado has been returned.

According to WGN,Clem Schultz was making funeral plans for his wife Geraldine when a 25-year-old photo of the couple was brought back to him.   The photo was found about 35 miles away.

"It brings back a lot of memories," he told WGN. "It was one of the last things I saw before I rode that house down to the ground. "

Illinois Tornado photo

Geraldine and her friend and neighbor Jacklyn Klosa were both killed in Thursday's EF-4 tornado.

The photo was discovered by Evan Bottlemy while he was walking in the land around his Harvard, Ill., home about 35 miles away from Fairdale.

"I looked at it and I thought this lady looking at me … it just felt like you needed to do something,” Bottlemy told WGN. “It’s somebody’s anniversary photo, somebody is going to want to find this.”

Bottlemy asked his daughter to help him locate the owners, and she posted the photo on a Facebook page set up to help tornado victims find lost items.  Schultz's daughter reached out and within a couple of hours the photo was returned, WGN reports.