It was just a $2 thrift store find—a simple print tucked away in a pile of forgotten artwork. But for Alexis Hadley, what she discovered on the back of that frame opened a window into another family’s legacy and returned something priceless to its rightful home.
Hadley, from the small town of Bay Minette, Alabama, describes herself as a dedicated thrifter.
“Never knowing what you may find on any given day is so much fun to me,” she told Newsweek. “I also have an appreciation for vintage or antique items, so that's usually what I'm looking for when I thrift.”
She stumbled into the shop on a whim—an old building rarely open.
“I live in a small town; one caution light and a Dollar General,” she said. “In this small town, there's a thrift store that I've rarely seen open. One Saturday I passed by and the doors were open, so I stopped.”
Inside, the space was packed. To her, that was ideal.
“I love places like this,” she said. “I don't mind digging because this is usually where you find the best treasures.”
While combing through a stack of artwork that looked long undisturbed, Hadley uncovered a print of a military figure on horseback.
“I loved it immediately,” she said.
But when she turned it over, everything changed.
On the back was a handwritten note:
“For Lewis Willis Bradford Tate, with love. There is no greater honor, nor deeper satisfaction, than to serve this great nation as an officer. It’s in your genes and I sincerely hope you will pursue that opportunity.
With love, forever, Poppy.”
That signature—Poppy—would be the start of something much bigger.
“The name was unique, so I did a Google search and found someone with the same name, an author located in my county,” Hadley said. “I went to Instagram and found him immediately.”
She messaged him:
“Hi, very strange question, but I found a picture in a thrift store addressed to Lewis Willis Bradford Tate. I was researching it and came across your IG account. Did you have someone in your life named Poppy?”
He replied. Yes—Poppy had been his grandfather, Col. George Willis Tate Sr., a descendant of George Washington.
“He said he’d never seen this note,” Hadley said. “There was a dispute in the inheritance, and some of it was released to the public.”
Though he was touched, the man—Lewis Willis Bradford Tate—insisted that Hadley keep the piece. But she couldn’t.
“It just didn’t feel right to keep it,” she told Newsweek.
Learning that he was hosting a book signing at Foley Book Exchange on June 7, Hadley made a quiet plan: she would bring it back.
“As soon as I walked into the bookstore and he saw me and the picture, he got up and came over and hugged me, and I gave it to him,” she said. “At first, I think he just thought I'd brought it to show him, but I said, ‘It’s yours; I cannot keep it. It belongs with you.’ He was clearly emotional about it and was so thankful I had come and given it to him.”
In a world of forgotten heirlooms and chance encounters, this story wasn’t about luck or value. It was about love, memory and doing the right thing—because sometimes, the smallest treasures carry the deepest meaning.
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