Woman Started New Job and Found Mysterious Folder of Family Mementos in Her Desk. 3 Decades Later, She's Now Found the Owner

Woman Started New Job and Found Mysterious Folder of Family Mementos in Her Desk. 3 Decades Later, She's Now Found the Owner

Tammy Ritter discovered the items in her desk when she started a new job in 1995

Toria Sheffield

Sun, January 18, 2026 at 10:30 PM UTC

3 min read

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FOX23 News/Facebook Tammy Ritter. — FOX23 News/Facebook
Tammy Ritter.

NEED TO KNOW

A family in Oklahoma has been reunited with decades-old family photos and keepsakes
They received the items from Tammy Ritter, who found them in her desk when she started a new job in 1995
Ritter held on to the mementos for more than three decades, in hopes of one day finding the rightful owners

A family in Oklahoma has been reunited with decades-old family photos and keepsakes thanks to one woman holding on to them for 31 years.

Tammy Ritter found the items in 1995, when she began a new job at the Tulsa County Assessor's Office, News Channel 8, Fox 23 News and News on 6 reported.

Inside a yellow folder in her new desk drawer, Ritter discovered black-and-white family photos, several postcards, golf scorecards from the 1940s and a plane ticket from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, per News Channel 8.

She was unable to locate the owner of the folder at the time, so, sensing the items within held sentimental value, she decided to keep them.

“These were clearly personal items, and I felt they belonged to someone,” Ritter explained of her decision to News Channel 8.

Ritter's supervisor, Chief Deputy Assessor Mark Liotta, told the outlet, "She's hung on to the file of family mementos for 30 years, and every time she's moved jobs and moved offices, she's taken that file with her."

Now, Ritter plans to retire in 2026. Knowing this, Liotta, an amateur genealogist, decided to take on the mystery of the folder and try to find its rightful owner.

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“I did some research, pieced together some old contact information, and I started making calls,” he told News Channel 8.

After following approximately 50 leads, Liotta narrowed his search down to the Evers/Cleveland family. Specifically, he believed the items would have belonged to a woman named Mary Louise Evers, who was the adopted daughter of Marlin Lindsay Evers and Cuma Cleveland.

Unfortunately, all three of her immediate family members had died, but the discovery led Liotta to Libby Doughty, a great-niece of Cuma Cleveland, who currently lives in Tulsa.

“Within moments of describing the items, Libby said, ‘That’s my Aunt Cuma!’ ” Liotta recalled to News Channel 8 of his initial phone call with Doughty.

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Getty Old letters (stock image). — Getty
Old letters (stock image).

Evers' family member stopped by the County Assessor's Office with her sister to retrieve the contents of the folder on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

“It’s just a blessing that this folder was kept all these years,” Doughty said to News on 6 about the situation.

“The fact that [Ritter] kept that is amazing,” she added. “Who does that? Who cares enough to think that this belongs to someone and that there’s a family out there somewhere that these items mean something to?”

For her part, Ritter said she was just glad to finally reunite the keepsakes with their rightful owners.

“I’m just excited to hand it over,” she told News on 6.

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