In this Daily Olympian photograph from 1966, Washington State Archivist Sid McAlpin puzzles over a jar of ashes of a person identified only as John Montgomery. No one knew who he was or why his ashes were at Archives. In 2014, genealogists identified the ashes as belonging to a 6 year old, and the ashes were then buried with John’s father.
Daily Olympian photograph, 1966, State Capital Museum Collection, Washington State Historical Society, catalog C1986.43.66.6.3.1
Text © Deborah Ross and The Olympian 2018