After the pandemic kept her separated from family for more than a year, Teresa finally made the trek from her home in Arizona to her birthplace, the southern Colorado city of Pueblo. Teresa was eager not only to be reunited with loved ones but to finally be able to see the plaque that her cousin had sponsored in memory of their grandparents on Pueblo’s Columbus Monument, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But after arriving at the Monument, Teresa discovered that the family’s plaque was nowhere to be found. “I searched the site several times before calling my cousin,” said Teresa, who asked to remain anonymous.