Bill Poray is a Fairport, NY historian. He loves learning about his community. When someone found these strange old film reels in their attic, labelled "Kodachrome Experiment," Bill knew he had to watch them.
What he saw was amazing! It was rare footage in color from Fairport in the 1930s. Kodachrome was one the first color films to be mass-marketed. It was introduced in 1935 and is one of the oldest surviving color film brands.
Color film wasn't widely used until decades later. Take, for example, this cassic footage of the Ross Sisters in the 1940s film Broadway Rhythm: Though the technology was available, the film was shot in black-and-white, then colorized in "technicolor" much later.
However, what Bill was most intrigued by was the footage of a mysterious young woman. She was jubilant, beautiful and, quite clearly, the photographer was smitten by her. Bill had to know who the woman and the photographer were, so he began searching for answers. What he uncovered was a beautiful love story that was over 70 years old.
See how Bill united the mysterious woman in the footage with her first love below and SHARE if you're glad someone kept these film reels for all those years!
Someone found a box of lost footage labelled "S Kodachrome Experiment" in their attic. They sent the film to Fairport, NY historian Bill Poray. The Kodachrome was one of Kodak's first color films used for both still photography and video.
Bill watched the footage from the 1930s and was amazed that the film captured his hometown's history in color. But there was one mysterious woman who he believed the photographer was clearly "smitten" with. He had to know who she was.
After some research, he found that the photographer was Bob Kramer, a young man hired by Kodak labs straight out of high school. The woman? Well she was Leona Sharp, Bob's high school sweetheart. Bill wondered if she would even be alive today but it didn't take long to track down 96-year-old Leona.
Bill knocked on Leona's door. "She opened the door about three inches, and I told her we had these films. And the door opened a little wider," Poray says in an interview. "And then she said 'Wait.' She disappeared. She came back about a minute later holding her wedding picture. She said 'Come in.' "
Leona and Bob married. However, their love affair was cut short.
Bill joined the air force to learn to fly a B-17 and was later sent to Europe during World War II...but he never did make it back.
When Bill brought Leona the footage of her lost love, it was like falling for him all over again. She could see Bob at the prime of his life.
It's clear from the bittersweet way she watches the old memories that Bill has given her an amazing gift: a reunion with her first and greatest love.
See the rest of Bill and Leona's tear-jerking story below.
SHARE if you think Leona and Bob's love is timeless!
