ALPENA, Mich. - Did you know Ellen Prince?
A Los Angeles woman has a wedding dress, photos and letters that belonged to Prince, a native of Alpena, Michigan. They were inside a chest discovered decades ago in California.
K.C. Thompson is looking for family members who would appreciate the possessions, The Alpena News reported.
"I feel like I am the custodian of her life," Thompson told the newspaper. "I’m so curious to know more about her, and I hope the people in Alpena will help me return Ellen home. ... All of these family heirlooms belong with her family."
Thompson said she learned that Prince, now deceased, was the daughter of an Alpena banker. The family moved to California where Prince married Johnny Landcaster in 1934. Love letters and wedding photos were in the abandoned chest.
The chest was one of three acquired by Thompson's cousin in 1986 when workers in North Hollywood were hauling them out of a home where the owner had died.
Years later, Thompson wore the wedding gown at her own wedding.
"When I wore it, I got the sense that this woman didn’t want to be forgotten," Thompson said of Prince, who also used Forte as a last name.