Long lost photo albums found near Tyler Perry Studios returned to family

ATLANTA — Nothing means more to Eddie Compton than family.

“This is a walk through history for me,” Compton said.

Several photo albums carefully arranged by Eddie’s mother decades ago had been missing for years.

“I’m so happy I could bring these photos to the family to bring back wonderful memories,” Terrence Smith said.

Smith found them along some railroad tracks in Southwest Atlanta, not far from where the U.S. Army’s Fort McPherson used to stand.

Smith called Channel 2 Action News, and shortly after our story ran on Memorial Day, viewers started calling.

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“I loved looking through it. A lot of memories,” Dorothy Freeman said.

Freeman and her husband, Colonel Isaac Freeman, are in the albums.

The Freemans and the Comptons go way back. Both are military families.

“My father was in World War II. I was in Vietnam. My son was in Afghanistan. It means a lot to us. We’re military people,” Eddie Compton said.

Eddie is so happy about the discovery and so grateful to Terrence Smith.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! I appreciate it,” Compton said.

Eddie has no idea how those photo albums ended up along some railroad tracks. He’s just glad to have them.

Man finds box of forgotten photo albums of Black military family near Tyler Perry Studios The pictures inside date back up to 65 years and show several generations of the family.

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