Family reunited with photo albums 40 years later

One man's trash is another man's treasure. However, for Bo and Sandy Raulerson, the owners of Bartow Christian Bookstore, that's not what they thought when they found three old photo albums in their shop in the late 70s.

For 40 years, the couple safeguarded the albums, even though they did not know who they belonged to.

According to the Raulerson's, a couple that worked aboard cruise ships asked them if they could store their belongings at the bookstore. That couple never returned and the Raulerson's eventually donated the abandoned items, with the exception of the photo albums.

Since then, their mission has been to reunite the family treasures with a little boy pictured in the album, named John Hansen.

"We knew a name that's all," said Bo Raulerson. The Raulerson's said they tried to find him several times but were unsuccessful until they asked for help from the Polk County History Center in Bartow.

John Hansen, who's not so little anymore, was located in Maine. Hansen said before these photo albums, he had very few pictures of his late mother.

Sandy Raulerson said she would occasionally open the photo albums up and think to herself that someone, out there, would be overjoyed to see these family mementos. When she and her husband finally found the rightful owner, they were overjoyed, "I teared up, I was so excited."

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