The power of social media has reconnected a man with a photo that was once sitting on his desk on the 77th floor of the World Trade Center.
A friend of Elizabeth Stringer Keefe found the photo at ground zero, just a few weeks after 9/11.
Keefe, an assistant professor at the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University, and a PhD candidate at Boston College, posted the photo to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram on the anniversary of the attacks for years, hoping to find the people in the picture alive and well.
Every year on #911 I post this photo hoping 2 return 2 owner. Found at #groundzero #WTC in 2001. Pls RT pic.twitter.com/mZ9LdQqE7x — E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 12, 2014
Each year, the photo got more shares, more retweets, and more likes.
"Every year I go dig it out," Keefe told the Boston Globe over the phone on Friday. "I've been posting it for years, and it's literally never gone anywhere."
U.S. & World
By Friday night, the day after the 13th anniversary of 9/11, the people in the wedding party were identified, and none of them were victims of the attacks, like Keefe feared.
Attention wonderful world: ALL SIX PEOPLE ARE ALIVE AND WELL AND I HAVE JUST SPOKEN TO ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!! #Happyending #911photo — E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 12, 2014
The man on the far left of the photo, Fred Mahe, contacted Keefe. The picture belonged to the former New York City resident. He said the photo was taken in Aspen, Colorado, in 2001.
@ProfKeefe I KNOW THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE! I was at the wedding. — Fred Mahe (@FredWMahe) September 12, 2014
"The picture was at my desk in the World Trade Center, Tower Two, on the 77th floor," said Mahe in a Facebook message to Boston Magazine. "The picture has been kept safe by [Keefe] for the last 13 years."
Dear Everyone: introducing the very much alive & well @FredWMahe!! #FARLEFT #weallknowyou #911photo #AMAZING #NYC Thank you to ALL — E. Stringer Keefe (@ProfKeefe) September 13, 2014
Mahe said he was not at work on 9/11, telling Boston Magazine he "thankfully never got a chance to go up to my office."
Hundreds of thousands of people shared the photo.
