ELDRED TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Sharon Malia of Macungie is the historian for her family. Tracing back her ancestors, preserving memories and stories, and making them more accessible to future generations in the family.
"You know years ago they were talking about DNA, DNA and I was like man I'd really like to do that. We always have a historian every year, it was just there waiting for me to have time to do it and inclination to do it," said Sharon Malia of Macungie.
Now retired, Malia has the time.
But she never imagined that she'd be reunited with family documents that resurfaced at the Kunkletown Thrift Store, after being donated.
"I didn't realize that someone would be so kind to try to find somebody who would want them," Malia said. "Really. That's unusual. So we're lucky."
Several people saw our story and contacted Malia about it.
After looking over the documents, doing some research, and looking at her family tree; she realized these birth certificates, marriage licenses, and confirmation certificates, are those of her ancestors, people she never knew existed.
"So Augustus Rehrig and Ida Beltz Rehrig are our great great great grand-parents so that was exciting," Malia said. "I was like, they belong to us. I didn't want to say I would take them if they didn't belong to us. It was certainly our name but not necessarily our family so we wanted to make sure it belonged to us."
Donna Deihl is the manager of the thrift store.
She said she never thought the documents would be reunited with the family.
"It's absolutely amazing. It makes my heart happy and now talking to them, what wonderful people. I could see the joy in their eyes and it makes me happy," said Donna Deihl.
Malia says she has a lot of work ahead of her to complete the family tree, but for the time being, she's going to enjoy the documents with family at their next reunion.
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