A woman managed to correctly identify an Irish town that meant so much to her late father after a series of help from strangers online.
Makeup artist Kailey Dominique knew the mystery Irish town was the perfect place to scatter her father’s ashes, she just had no idea where it was.
She didn’t know the name of the town, or where in Ireland it was, and had just three photos of the town, two of which showed the streets.
The third photo was of a man named Clint and his mother. Kailey’s father had met Clint during his trip in 2001 when he had taken him in after his rental car broke down during a visit in 2001.
Kailey posted the photos onto the Facebook group Girls LOVE Travel and appealed for help.
She explained that she was traveling to Ireland to spread her dad’s ashes, and that there was a particular town that meant a lot to him, but she didn’t know the name of it.
Dominique told INSIDER: “He said it was the trip of a lifetime. I never thought to ask where it was or who the people were before he passed away.
“It was a week out from my trip and I had nothing to lose, so I thought I know this is a long shot but maybe these ladies will know!”
One Facebook user, named Mara, saw the post and had the idea to share the pictures on her Tinder account to broaden the search.
It proved a key decision because Mara’s Tinder post was spotted by a man named Richard who recognised the town as Kilmallock in Co Limerick.
It all made sense to Kailey as she recalled a map of Ireland that had belonged to her father. It had the town of Kilmallock circled but she had never known why.
Kailey said: “Mara is pure genius! I had no idea she was doing that and cried so hard when she found it! I never would have thought of Tinder for this situation.”
She updated her Facebook post to let her followers know the mystery town’s identity.
The story was far from over though, as one of Kailey’s followers had relatives from Kilmallock. She contacted them to see if they recognised Clint and his mother from the photo.
The relatives did recognise Clint, and reached out to his wife to tell her Kailey’s story.
Clint and his wife Kathleen contacted Kailey on Facebook and invited her to stay in their spare cottage during her trip.
She met up with the family and they helped her find the perfect place to scatter her dad’s ashes.
Kailey said: “I got to spend the day with the family and get to know them. They spread my dad’s ashes with me over the bridge by their house.
“When I first pulled into Kilmallock and saw the steeples of the church in person I cried. Knowing this was the place that had such a huge impact on my dad was emotional. I understand why he fell in love. It’s a beautiful village with the most beautiful people I’ve ever met.”
The emotional journey had one more twist for Kailey as she explained: “My dad had left Clinton a note thanking him on one of his business cards and Clinton had kept it in his wallet for 18 years!. He gave it back to me. It was amazing seeing my dad’s handwriting and knowing Clinton had kept it all those years.”
The incredible story has given Kailey a new faith in the kindness of people, and she said the reactions to her story have been ‘amazing’.
“I’ve cried so much over the beauty of this,” she said. “You don’t often hear about the beautiful side of humanity so when something like this happens it’s an incredible thing.”
Written by Andrew Moore