VIDEO – Couple Buys Goodwill Desk, Finds 100 Years of Family’s History: ‘I Was Blown Away’

A couple in Arizona got the surprise of their life when they discovered 100 years of another family’s memories.

When Gilbert resident Jenna Franzoy bought a desk for $20 at Goodwill and it flipped over, a secret drawer fell out which contained multiple pieces of history, Fox 10 reported on Friday.

Inside were newspaper clippings, sports articles, farm articles, letters, and songs.

“My dearest Martha, mother has been writing to you and I want to write some too,” Franzoy read from one of the papers.

“I found it to be really sentimental, and I was so blown away by it, so I knew if it was my family member, I’d be even more blown away,” she added.

A photo shows the young woman opening the desk drawer where the treasures were kept:

Franzoy told reporters she and her husband refurbish furniture, and they are always searching for special pieces to sell. She described the desk as being antique with lots of small drawers.

“There was something in me, like ‘Take it,'” she recalled of the moment she saw the desk:

“I had laid it on its back, I had already sanded it, painted it, and everything. It was when I decided I wanted to keep it, I said, ‘Okay, I’m gonna carry it to my bedroom.”

It was not long before she discovered the secret compartments that held the documents securely inside the piece of furniture, hidden away for so many years.

She wanted to get the items back to the family, however, the only clue she had was the name Martha McCollough.

When she shared the story online not expecting to have any luck, a woman named Shirley Knight replied and it was revealed the desk and items belonged to her grandmother, Martha.

When the grateful Knight finally got to hold her family’s history, she said, “McCollough, Kenneth and Nancy had a girl — that would be me — September 4,” while reading off her birth announcement.

Now, Franzoy is enjoying her desk and the knowledge she helped reunite someone with their family history.