Randy Waites was watching the local television news two months ago at his home near Sacramento when he saw somebody appear briefly on the screen who shared his last name.

The man, a tourist identified as Edward Waites, was being interviewed by KCRA Channel 3 about a major snowstorm that was about to hit Lake Tahoe during his family vacation there. Randy Waites, 55, quickly hit “pause” on the TV and took a photo of the screen. Then he called in his kids, who were in the next room.

“Hey, look at this,” Randy said that afternoon, Dec. 22, as he pointed at the television. “We have the same name. It’s probably a coincidence, but I wonder if there’s a family connection.”

It turns out there was a family connection, one that is much closer than what Randy Waites had guessed. You can read the full story in an article by Cathy Free published in the Washington Post at https://wapo.st/3LUA59d.