LOST & FOUND

Local photographer Greg Kozlick saves the day, decades later

BY MAUREEN CALLAHAN | PHOTOS BY 726 VISUALS

Have you ever donated something by mistake? Trying to track it down is a virtual nightmare. For Sue Brose, this error was a huge tragedy. Her wedding photos were inadvertently donated by relatives who quickly cleaned out her mother’s home before its sale. Enter Downers Grove Magazine’s photographer, Greg Kozlick.

Last year, Kozlick moved into a new apartment. Shortly thereafter, while shopping for dishes at the Goodwill store in Downers Grove, he came across a box of about 80 slides labeled “Sue’s Wedding.” After holding a few of the slides up to the light, Kozlick recognized the value of the contents of the box. He wondered if it had been donated by mistake. “I knew immediately that the slides had to be saved,” Kozlick stated. “They’re someone’s memories. I couldn’t leave them in a thrift store.” Kozlick purchased the slides and started thinking about how to locate the family.

As a professional photographer, he realized the type of Kodak projector it would take to view the slides. Kozlick managed to locate one several months later, at another area Goodwill location. As he began to view the slides, Sue’s wedding projected onto his wall. A few shots of a graduation and family vacation in the Dakotas were also in the box.

Kozlick immediately posted the story on both the ‘Lombard Peeps’ and ‘Downers Grove Area Parents’ Facebook pages, along with a few of the photos, hoping someone might recognize some of the subjects and reply with information leading to the owner.

Responses began rolling in immediately. Someone in the Downers Grove group identified the church in Lombard. A handful of people recognized the priest. Someone else showed it to their mother, who identified members of the Brose family. Kozlick recognized the name as belonging to one of his high school classmates, Amber Brose, who turned out to be

-DOWNERS GROVE MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHER GREG KOZLICK ON RETURNING LONG LOST PHOTOS

Sue’s granddaughter. She helped unite Kozlick with her grandmother.

Sue was located within 30 minutes of the time of the original post. “I was surprised how quickly the mystery was actually solved,” Kozlick said. An NBC representative who happened to be a part of the Downers Grove Facebook group connected him with a reporter to share the story.

Knowing the process of converting the slides back to frameable photos might be challenging for Sue to navigate, Kozlick thoughtfully took care of everything. He dropped off a USB stick containing photos of the converted slides to her home. He had also submitted the photo order to

Costco, printed the address labels and paid all the charges.

“I’m so grateful for all that Greg did to save my valuable memories,” Sue stated, smiling. She was thrilled to be able to make new prints of her wedding photos, as the ones she had were over 50 years old. She was also grateful to be able to present her youngest brother, who appeared on the family vacation photos also found in the donated box, with prints of the trip he took with their parents years ago.

Kozlick says that “meeting Sue and giving her back her memories is something I’ll never forget. I’m glad I could help.” ■