By Gerri Miller
Elmore/Autauga News
Lloyd Gallman never dreamed that a portrait he took of a friend’s baby would end up prompting a happy reunion with the now 24-year-old woman and her mother.
Gallman was a photojournalist with the Prattville Progress and the Montgomery Advertiser more than 20 years ago. He said he found a little extra time that he devoted to taking portraits as a side business.
He had photographed all four of his friend Susan Alred’s children, but a portrait of her fourth daughter Bethany Odle stood out to him.
“I photographed a friend’s fourth daughter and the portrait turned out nice so I had an extra print made to display as a sample of my work,” Gallman said.
The years went by and Gallman became a father. He said he also kept getting busier with his newspaper work so he had to stop taking portraits. Over the years and through several house cleanups, he kept coming across the 16 x 20 baby portrait that hung in his office for so long.
“I just couldn’t trash that baby portrait,” he said. “I thought, ‘I’ll get this back to the baby’s mom.’ I’d look for how to contact her then I’d get too busy to keep checking or the portrait would be covered up and – out of sight, out of mind!”
Gallman said he met and married the woman of his dreams two years ago and had to clean out his Prattville home because was moving south to Castleberry. “I started cleaning and I found the portrait again,” he said. “This year the portrait was left uncovered and seeing it motivated me! I was able to reconnect with her mother, Susan.”
“I can’t tell you how many texts went back-and-forth between her mother and I as we tried to get together. I was out of town a bit, Susan was busy and Bethany was working,” he said.
He said finally Susan said that she and her daughter could meet him and pick up the portrait. He was unsure which daughter he would be meeting or if it was the daughter in the portrait.
And yes, it was the daughter in the portrait that he ended up meeting.
“We met in Prattville near the interstate. After seeing this little blonde-haired girl in this portrait for over 20 years it was rather surprising to see her now a grown up 24-year-old young woman,” Gallman said.
He said he was so excited that the trio had finally gotten together and the portrait was going to people who would appreciate it. On the way home, however, he remembered that he had forgotten to take a photo of the event.
“I still wanted us to get together so I could have the photo memory of us with the portrait. Again, with me being out of town some and them working it took a few more months for that to happen,” Gallman said.
Alred said it was wonderful to hear from her family photographer after 23 years. Gallman photographed all four of her girls when they each turned one year old. Her daughters are now 37, 34, 28 and 24.
“You can imagine the surprise when Lloyd told me he had a large portrait of my baby in his studio that he wanted her to have,” Alred said. “Bethany is 24 now and loves having this part of her childhood hanging in her own home.”
“During a time in the world when Covid, chaos and unrest is in our daily news, it is so uplifting and refreshing to hear about someone willing to go out of their way to reunite the portrait with the baby in the picture,” she continued. “Time may have passed between the picture and the child, but kindness never grows old. Thank you, Lloyd, for finding me and giving this beautiful work of art its rightful home. You will always be our Christmas Angel.”
