kovno

Growing up in Syracuse, N.Y, Eileen Douglas lived for the moments she could climb into her grandfather\’s lap and find the pennies he brought — special for her. He faithfully visited his grandchildren every day after leaving his work as a butcher. Yet he never really spoke about his upbringing in Kovno, Lithuania.

\”I thought we weren\’t allowed to talk about it, that if you did, you would hurt the family,\” Douglas recalled. \”My grandfather died suddenly when I was 12 and I never got to say goodbye.\”

Some 25 years after her grandfather died, Douglas paid a visit to her childhood home and stumbled upon a series of forgotten family photographs.