MIDDLEBORO — They graduated 100 years apart but members of the Middleboro High School Class of 2023 recently spent time with their counterparts from a century earlier _ thanks to an unexpected discovery in the rafters of a barn in Arkansas.

The barn was located at the Mena, Ark. home of Margaretha (Greta) Turnis Becker, a member of the Class of 1923. A one-time teacher, she and her husband had lived in several states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York before retiring to Arkansas. 

But throughout her travels, she saved at least one container of items that displayed her connection to her hometown of Middleboro and the friends she made there. 

When her granddaughter Kay Sauer of Florida was cleaning out the house in 2021 after her grandmother’s death in 1998, she noticed a box in the rafters of the barn.

She opened the container and found a remarkable piece of history: Fifty-eight photos, many of them depicting her grandmother’s fellow graduates from the Class of 1923.

Sauer contacted the Middleboro Historical Commission and asked if they would be interested in these photos.

The answer was immediate and enthusiastic, Historical Commission Laurene Gerroir said: “Yes.’’

The photos were shipped to Middleboro and held in storage.

And so began a little detective work by commission members. 

Using information from the Town Report from that year, 37 of the 58 pictures in the box could be matched up with the 50-member graduating class. Twelve pictures of students had no names on them. Seven other photos were clearly marked as students from the Class of 1922 and 1921. 

There were two photos of adult men, who have been identified as Principal Walter Sampson and Charles Bates, Superintendent. 

Ironically, one class member was not pictured: Greta Becker, the young woman who saved her friends’ pictures and moved them from place to place during her lifetime.

As the classmates’ identities became clear, The Historical Commission decided that there was an ideal time to showcase the snapshots. Why not, they thought, show them to the class of 2023, the most recent graduates of the school the students in the photo had graduated from 100 years earlier.

Commission members reached out to high school Principal Paul Branagan, who was in the middle of senior week, the activities-filled days before graduation.

The busy principal positively to the idea.  “He said it sounded wonderful,’’ Gerroir said.

The photos were framed, matched with the names of those depicted and placed on tables where they could be viewed.

Their efforts led to the June day when the Class of 2023 attended senior assembly and got to meet their counterparts from 100 years earlier. 

Students were amazed, Gerroir said at the clothing and coiffures. A common reaction was “Look at those hairdos.’’ They also noted  the “lovely handwriting’’ students of that era had, she remarked.

Parents and older guests were impressed with how rare a situation this was, Gerroir said. “To have photos 100 years old, moved around the country, ending up in a barn in Arkansas  and then coming back to Middleboro in time to share an event with the current graduating class is amazing, to say the least.’’

Where and how the photos will be preserved remains under discussion, she said. 

But there is nothing uncertain about the enthusiasm the photos evoke, and the gratitude commission members have for Greta Turnis Becker’s decision to save them her entire life and her granddaughter’s subsequent call to share this treasure trove from generations past. 

“It evokes this incredible feeling,’’ Gerroir said, of the past coming alive.

“It’s just awe.’’