How a thrifter and TikTok helped a Maryland man reconnect with a long-lost 1989 home video

BETHESDA, Md. (WJLA) — Jono Marcus didn't know what to make of the voicemail he received, or of the sudden realization that he was now famous on social media.

The Bethesda man listened to the message again, trying to understand the strange statement uttered by a woman named Julie.

"This is going to sound a little bit odd, and I don’t mean to be intrusive," she said. "But – you and your family I think are trending on TikTok in a video."

She was right, it was odd — but the 54-year-old wanted to know more.

"I said, ‘Please send me a link,’ and sure enough, she sent me a link and there I was with my mom and dad," Marcus told ABC7.

A Wesleyan University graduate, Marcus explained he saved up money out of college to fly one-way to Europe in 1989. His parents met the then-23-year-old in Kenya, leading to the moments seen in the now-viral video - interacting with wildlife, exploring the area, being a family.

A carefree time caught on video; a video Marcus didn't know existed until events aligned in an improbable way.

After his father died, Marcus assumed the videotapes were lost in his mother's 2016 move from New York.

The videos ended up at a small thrift store in Long Island, where David Gutenmacher, who runs the website Museum of Lost Memories, found them and took them home. He digitized the hour-and-a-half video down to a 40-second clip, and posted it on TikTok.

More than 21,000 people have commented. Nearly a million people watched. It didn't surprise Gutenmacher the video took off.

"With everything going on these days, people just want to see good in the world and a story like this is perfectly wholesome," Gutenmacher said, adding, "being able to return someone's lost memories is truly priceless."

Many were left nostalgic, touched and curious.

A TikToker named Julie contacted the university after seeing Marcus wearing the Wesleyan shirt in the video. The current swim coach connected her to their predecessor, who confirmed it was Marcus.

"It was very funny to see me, which is also not me but also me, and after a while thinking about that time in my life which is much different than it is now," he said.

In a time where social media tends to be fleeting moments, glimpses of connection and understanding, the home video, in turn, hit home for so many. To Marcus, it created a collective moment of relief.

"[Social media is] like this labyrinth of these dead ends and the doom scrolling and all the stuff that has happened in the past many years," he said, adding, "It’s just a breath. It’s a snapshot of someone who seemingly has no care in the world – and I did have no care in the world, it seemed, if I recall. It was a good time."

Gutenmacher said the virality of the video is a bit of comfort and hope during an uncertain time.

"I'm glad we were able to make so many people smile and give them hope that maybe, just maybe, someone will return their lost memories one day," Gutenmacher said.

The video is grainy yet clear, capturing a young Marcus mimicking a large bird and touching hands with a primate. His father's goofy face, his mother talking passionately at the table - the things caught in a moment of time that will now last forever. It stirs something inside Marcus that he hasn't felt in a while.

"It more sparked a feeling of youthfulness and playfulness that I may have put on a shelf, I think in part due to the pandemic and a part due to just getting to the rut of working hard, keeping the kids safe and entertained, I guess, during the pandemic.”

Marcus now has the entire video back in his files, a gift he never knew he wanted or needed. It took a thrift store and a TikTok sleuth to get this spark back into Marcus's life. For that, he is thankful - and still shocked - it all played out the way that it did.

“It was just a long string of serendipitous moments that led to this moment right now.”

For parts of Jono Marcus's interview, click below.