I have a situation and I don't know how to handle it.
Last week, my children's Godfather passed away. Their Godmother passed away about 7 years ago.
Due to us living so far apart, we haven't seen them regularly. However, sometimes my daughter and I will take all the grandchildren back to WV for a visit and we tried to stop by and see Junior and Nila if time allows.
We saw Nila a year before her death and saw Junior on our last trip in about 2 years ago.
Here is my dilemma. I didn't find out about his death until it was too late to attend the funeral. They didn't have any children and only one or two nieces that they were not close to.
When my twins were one year old, I had professional portraits done. There were two large 17" or 20" prints done. One of me and the twins and one of the twins by themself. It is the only professional portrait I ever had done of my children with me. The pictures have hung for 33 years over Junior and Nila's bed. Every time I would visit, they would show me that they still had the pictures and tell me when anything ever happened to them, I needed to get the pictures.
I'm sure that is not an item anybody would ever remember to leave in a will, but I would really like to have those portraits. I don't know who the executor would be or how to even get ahold of anybody to find out. But I am fearful that whoever they left things to will just destroy the pictures because they won't even know me or my children.
I want to contact the local courthouse in WV and find out who the executor is and see if I would be able to buy the portraits from the estate. But I don't want to seem cold or unfeeling to thier loss. My heart grieves deeply at Junior's passing. I read the obituary yesterday and spent a lot of time just staring at his picture remembering all the times I spent in church growing up with him and Nila and all the times they would come and visit their godchildren. I remembered how she loved to buy frilly dresses and patent leather shoes for my daughter and little baseball shirts and ball caps for my son.
So, believe me I am very sensitive to the loss and I know that they ones they left behind will grieve them greatly as well. I just don't want to appear cold and call and say "What's going to happen to my children's portraits?" But by the same token, I can't stand the thought of somebody just tossing them out or selling them in a yard sale for $1 for the frames.
Does anybody have any ideas, thoughts, or comments on how I can handle this diplomatically without looking like I'm coldhearted or imposing on their family grieving time.
