While contractors were changing some office cabinets in Jana Kim鈥檚 1929 Saanich home, they found a small, fragile paper book behind a wall.
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鈥淗e brought it down and gave it to my husband and, he kind of wasn鈥檛 that interested in it,鈥� said Kim. 鈥淚 had a look at it and I read the whole thing and this is like, written by a child, it was really sweet, talking about her dog and the puppies that were born and going to a dog show and I said, 鈥渢hat鈥檚 so interesting鈥� that it had her full name on it.
The book was written by Alison Snape, and called 鈥淭he Story of Lassie 鈥� an Irish Setter.鈥� It seemed to be written in the 1940s, but the date is obscured by a tear in the cover. She wondered if the young girl used to live in her house, so she went upstairs to the office and some wood behind the wall was marked 鈥淔or Snape,鈥� seemingly part of an old wooden crate from Stocker鈥檚 Moving and Storage.
Kim thought about it for a few days, sharing the story with friends who thought she should post it on a Facebook group, , where she would meet some history buffs. Commenters began to dig through old newspaper archives and wedding announcements, finding additional details on dog shows where Alison could have gotten Lassie from, a public speaking prize she may have won at St. Margaret鈥檚 School, and much more.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 believe how quickly everyone put that up,鈥� said Kim.
She also posted it to the Victoria B.C. subreddit, and 13 minutes later, there was a breakthrough.
鈥淪he points it out to her co-worker who says 鈥極h, my gosh, my nana is Alison Snape!鈥欌��
After making contact, Alison, her daughter, and her granddaughter will meet with Kim on Monday to chat about the property.
鈥淚 put it out on the internet as a long shot, thinking somebody might enjoy looking into this puzzle, but I had no idea that we would connect with her family so quickly,鈥� said Kim.
Kim said she hasn鈥檛 yet spoken to Alison herself, but Kim has been told that Alison is still 鈥渧ery fit and healthy鈥�, so she looks forward to learning about the Snapes and their old home.
