Graduate students restore family’s fire-damaged photos

In the early hours of December 26, 2014, a devastating house fire in rural Ohio took the lives of Ricky and Traci Harris’ three sons, Kenyon, 14, Broderick, 11, and Braylon, 9, as well as Ricky’s mother, Terri Harris, 60.

The boys had been spending the night at their grandmother’s house just two doors down from Ricky and Traci.

The fire destroyed the home, leaving behind about 300 charred and water-damaged photographs discovered in a plastic tub.

Ricky’s high school friend, Michael Emmons, a doctoral student at the Winterthur/University of Delaware in art conservation, learned about the photos during a visit with the grieving parents. He decided he wanted to help.

Emmons arranged for the photos to be delivered to his school where graduate students could work on restoring the images.

"I know there is nothing that can replace holding your family member and seeing them again. To be able to at least have photographs and to be able to see the photographs and remember through pictures I think is pretty powerful," said Emmons.

“It has been powerful,” Leah Bright, a student majoring in object conservation, said in a blog post. “It is so personal and emotional for the family, and our priority is to help them.”

The Harris’ expressed their gratitude to the students for their hard work, but admit that it’s still difficult looking at photographs of those no longer with them.

“We’re pretty blown away by the fact that somebody wants to take interest and care about this tiny little family,” Ricky told the university. “You tell them that me and my family, my whole family — we love them all. There’s no words to say how appreciative we are.”

The Harris’ have already posted some of the restored photos online.

“My brother-in-law and I were talking about it on the phone last night,” Ricky said. “He said it felt like his chest hurt and his bones ache. Our hearts are broken. But to see those photos online and be able to scroll in and be able to see that those are our pictures — oh. That this great big place that could be doing so many other things is doing this for us, it helps.”

Ricky and his wife are taking it day by day, slowly adjusting to a new life without their boys.

“I think our minds have to process the reality and you’ve got to face the truth. You’re not going to get better until you do,” Ricky told the Columbus Dispatch. “And I want to get better. Someday, Traci and I want to get better.”