A mystery portrait of a young woman found in the detached shed of Connie and Leonard Perez's home sparked an article asking for the community's help back in the Nov. 22, 2006 issue of The Recorder.

Connie Perez had a few pieces of the puzzle but needed more information to figure out who this young woman in the sailor's suit outfit might be. She had thought that it might be from the early 1920s. The picture was glued to a lead backing, but there was no date or any clues to identify when it had been done.

Luckily, Perez knew the history of her house. According to Perez, the house was built between 1910 and 1914. It was originally on Kern and 10th, where the Roosevelt band room and parking lot now sit. The house was owned by Henry Lahann, and he was married to a woman named Lottie from the Burris family.

When he moved out, Lahann left items behind in the detached shed that he had used as a shop, which was mostly hunting gear. But then Perez found the portrait that had been on a high shelf, clearly hidden for a long time. It wasn't framed but was glued to a lead backing.

Perez was left to wonder who the picture could be of, especially since a portrait of Henry Lahan's wife as a younger lady wouldn't make sense because it was hidden on a high shelf. The Kingsburg Recorder asked for anyone who recognized the photo to call the office or Connie.

Then Lynette Silva, an acquaintance of Connies, called after reading the Recorder article and told her that she had gone to high school with Janice Lahann, Henry's granddaughter in the 1950s. Janice had passed away almost two years before, but her husband, Buck Martin, also grew up in Kingsburg and currently lives in Auberry.

Connie called Buck and after they talked, he concluded that the girl in the portrait was probably Janice's grandmother, who was Henry's first wife, Ida Silva-Lahann. Henry and Ida had two children together: Jim and Mildred. Janice was Jim's daughter.

Connie and Buck met at the Recorder office and compared pictures. The old portrait that Connie found and the picture that Buck had of Henry Lahan and Ida on their wedding day made it certain that the woman in the two photos were in fact Ida.

In the Dec. 13 issue, the mystery of the photo was solved. The woman in the picture was identified as Ida Silva-Lahann, Buck's late wife's grandmother. Buck said that because Ida looked a few years younger in the old portrait, that it was most likely the equivalent of a senior picture.

Buck had said that the wedding photo that he had of Henry and Ida was taken in 1906, and he guessed that the picture was taken five, six or even seven years ago, making the picture date back to as early as the 19th century.

But the story isn't finished. Buck Martin recently had the picture restored. When he brought it in, he said that the man restoring the photo claimed he had never seen a picture that was backed on actual lead and wondered how it was possible. Buck, however, had a pretty good idea.

"Henry Lahann is an old hunter, he molded his own bullets. . .he would have and did have lead," Buck said.

This makes for a good argument, especially considering that in some places the lead is up to one eighth of an inch thick, much too thick to be a sheet.

But the beauty of this story is in the picture itself. It has withstood the test of time, and as it sat on the desk in The Recorder office, with Buck explaining the possible date of the picture, the lady with the sailor suit outfit looked striking. No longer hidden on a high shelf in a shed with a lead backing, the framed photograph looked like an antique that had been carefully preserved.

In the last issue run of this story, Connie Perez had made a statement about the lady in the photo.

"I am so happy that this lady is finally going home," Connie said. "I am really pleased that we found the right person."

Indeed Ida Silva-Lahann is home.

"[Ida's picture] will hang right over a picture of Janice," Buck said.

By Megan Reilly

kingsburgrecorder@sbclobal.net