HOUSTON – A Richmond couple found a lost camera on a dream trip to Hawaii and now has a special bond with the Maryland family it belonged to.
Jerry McNamara had promised to take his wife Marybeth on a dream wedding anniversary trip to Hawaii 30 years ago. The Richmond couple finally went to Maui for a week in July and learned nothing happens before it’s time.
While on a snorkeling trip McNamara discovered something black in the ocean.
After diving 35-45 feet in the water, he discovered it was a Go-Pro camera. McNamara, a pastor, decided to practice the golden rule and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
“It was the same model I had and I’m thinking whoever dropped this as I would just want this back,” he said. “At that point, I had like six hours on our Go Pro. Our whole trip that we had dreamed about, never been there before. So, I gotta find a way get this back to them.”
McNamara said the camera itself was dead but he was able to look through the memory card to find clues about the owner.
“One of the little girls on the video goes daddy says we’re kinda sleepy today because we’re from Maryland and there’s a big-time change.”
He said footage of a mudder-style race also helped him narrow the owners down to the Baltimore, Maryland area. So McNamara contacted the Baltimore NBC news station to try to find the family and it worked. Within hours, viewers identified the family as Lee and Melissa Morton, along with their two girls.
Lee Morton said his Go Pro slipped out of his pocket while snorkeling. He tried to find it but was unsuccessful.
Four days later, McNamara went snorkeling in the same spot and made the camera discovery.
“I just got chills and I was like oh my gosh. Oh my gosh,” Lee said. “There’s just no way this is possible.”
McNamara’s kind act was rewarded on what would be another special occasion, his birthday. It was also the same day he learned he’d become a first-time grandparent.
“Of course Lee and Melissa absolutely floored us,” he said. “Literally as I’m heading out the door to mail their package up comes to the UPS driver bringing a package of Maryland crab cakes and tasty Baltimore-area food.
McNamara said he was able to get Go Pro to send the Morton’s a replacement camera since their camera was destroyed in Hawaii. He said he’s still on high after his dream vacation because there has been one kind of action after another.
“I think it’s our connections, the times when our stories cross with each other that really enrich live, give it meaning,” he said. “I feel really blessed that way to have had this happen and experience that.”