A Colorado man who recalled being photographed for a newspaper one summer day in 1956, when he lived at St. Joseph’s Orphans’ Home in Helena, recently saw that picture and others with help received at the Diocese of Helena Chancery.

Stephen Richardson of Colorado Springs was driving from Glacier National Park on July 7 when he stopped at the Chancery to ask about photo records. “There was one picture that I remember, this picture of me in the swimming pool, arms on the edge of the pool with a diving mask up on my forehead,” Richardson said. “That’s what I remember, that’s what I was going after.”

With the help of diocesan archivist Sister Dolores Brinkel, he was able to track down a June 1956 article published in The Register, the diocesan newspaper. The article with eight photos and the title “A Day with Steve at St. Joseph’s Home” featured Richardson and his brothers. “I had no idea what I looked like,” Richardson said. “I had no idea what my brothers looked like. Last time I had seen my brothers was in the late ’50s.”

Seeing the newspaper pictures was “a very nice find,” he said. St. Joseph’s closed in 1965, just over 70 years after its founding by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Sister Dolores’s religious order. Above, Stephen Richardson smiles while looking at a photocopy of The Register page featuring an article about him, and his brothers.

Right: The photograph that prompted Richardson to visit the chancery. (The Montana Catholic/Eric Connolly photo)

Published in The Montana Catholic Online, Volume 26, No. 7, July 16, 2010.