It’s been said a picture is worth a thousand words. For
Hollister resident Donna Avina, the pictures that speak the words
of an entire lifetime were taken from her and she wants them
back.
About a week ago, Avina returned to her home on Rainbow Drive
after spending the weekend in Monterey. Her cherished family photos
and letters, which she kept in two day planners, were sitting in
the back seat of her car parked in the driveway in front of her
house.
It’s been said a picture is worth a thousand words. For Hollister resident Donna Avina, the pictures that speak the words of an entire lifetime were taken from her and she wants them back.
About a week ago, Avina returned to her home on Rainbow Drive after spending the weekend in Monterey. Her cherished family photos and letters, which she kept in two day planners, were sitting in the back seat of her car parked in the driveway in front of her house.
The next day when she went to retrieve her planners, she realized they had been stolen.
“I tore the house apart, but they were definitely gone,” she said.
Among the items in the planners was the last picture taken of her husband who died 8 years ago, her favorite picture of her three children when they were young and several sentimental letters from lifelong friends.
“When I traveled, they made me feel connected to home,” she said.
After filing a police report, the officer told her the best thing to do was take a walk around her neighborhood and look in dumpsters, bushes and behind buildings where the thief may have discarded whatever he or she didn’t want.
“The police said our area has become a hotbed of criminal activity,” Avina said. “I’m aware that there have been a number of break-ins, but there was no monetary value to (the planners).”
Avina wrote a letter to the editor of the Free Lance and posted 100 flyers around town, offering a $300 reward for the return of her affects. She received several calls from people who found things, but her pictures were not among them.
One call she received, from a woman who works at a mini-mart on Nash Road, led her to the discovery of someone else’s years of pictorial memories, found behind the Goodwill on Tres Pinos Road.
After an hour of picking up the hundreds of photos she found strewn across the pavement, Avina realized it was someone’s scrap book contents – important memories chronicling the lives of another family who was probably missing them as much as she was, Avina said.
“It was someone’s family history,” she said. “I felt very emotional about it.”
Avina hopes to at least find out who’s pictures she found and return them. The only names in the multitude of items are Patricia Herrera and Crysta.
Her granddaughter, who has also been greatly affected by the loss of the pictures, chastised Avina when she bought a new day planner.
“She said, ‘What are you doing, you’re going to get my pictures back,'” Avina said. “She was so upset to think that someone was trashing my things.”
While she realized she needs to move on and not obsess over the loss of her mementos too long, she nevertheless wishes for the safe return of her keepsakes.
“I’m still hoping someone will find something in a bush or a field,” she said, “I really want to get them back.”
Anyone with information may reach Donna Avina at (408) 776-0433, or call the Free Lance at 637-5566.
