How to Honor Lost Loved Ones and Give a Priceless Gift

ScanMyPhotos customer, Jeanne Tobin, grew up before the days of digital photography. “We all took regular pictures, or ‘stills’ is what we used to call them.” These stills have been great for looking back on old memories, but Jeanne encountered a slight issue: the sheer number of printed photos accumulated over the years.

It started with Jeanne’s late father, whom she has some of her fondest memories.

“He was always walking around with his Nikon camera taking photos of us growing up—and my children, too. Wherever he was he took a picture. He took billions of photos and then would get duplicates for free. When he and my mom died 5-6 years ago, I went through all their things. I uncovered album after album of photos, and boxes filled to the brim with pictures that should have gone in albums.”

The issue for Jeanne, wasn’t just about the amount of printed photos and where to store them—it was more about how to preserve these photos to honor her father, while providing a lifetime of memories to pass down to her children and grandchildren.

“Scanning the photos became my big project. I bought a small scanner, but the quality was terrible. You can improve the quality by switching to the flatbed scanner, but then that took up even more time. I just thought ‘This isn’t a good idea—I should probably be doing other things with the rest of my life.’ ”

That’s when Jeanne’s daughter sought help from ScanMyPhotos.

“I sent in 2,000 in the first order. ScanMyPhotos was so good and the job they did was so well done—customer service was there to hold my hand through the entire process. So, after that experience, I sent 3,000 more.”

Then, in June of this year, Jeanne suffered a heart attack. “On the way home from the hospital I was so concerned about making the deadline to send in my photos—it was like a term paper I needed to get it done—but ScanMyPhotos was great and made an extension. This was a huge, important project for me and if I didn’t get it done it would all be for nothing.”

The project for Jeanne became so much more than preservation and cataloging—it became a life’s mission. In fact, Jeanne even created a ScanMyPhotos room in her home dedicated to organizing and boxing up photos to scan.

“Really what you get from doing this is more than just a disc with photos—you get to preserve your past, you get your legacy. I preserved my family’s legacy, made a tribute to my dad and a have this wonderful gift to give to my children.”