Uncategorized Category | Page 440 of 497 | The Ring Finders

Andrea removed her rings and placed them in a sweater pocket while at a picnic with her friends. Since it was too hot a day to actually wear the sweater, she had it tied around her waist. When she was told about some crabs coming ashore, she sprinted down to the waters edge to see them. This entailed running across a short section of grassy park, scaling a sea wall, and then 100 yards or so of sand. After a while, she returned to the picnic table in the park. A 1/2 hour later, she discovered that her rings were gone out of her pocket. She remembered that the sweater was falling off as she ran but didn’t think to check the pocket until now. So, it could be in the grass or short bushes in the park, by the sea wall, in the dry sand, or at the waters edge. The park has real short grass, so, if lost there, it was probably spotted and picked up by someone. Same with the park side of the sea wall as it’s a paved walkway. I decided to hunt the football field size area of dry sand first. After about 45 minutes to an hour of gridding, starting from the sea wall and heading to the wet sand, I got a nice strong and shallow signal about 3/4 of the way to the water that resulted in both rings in one scoop. A stunned and happy Andrea had her rings back as a roar of cheers came from her church group when they heard the good news. Now she could go back and enjoy the party! Pleasure to meet you folks and thank you for the reward.

While doing some detecting for fun in the water, I found a gold 1965 class ring from Central High School in Saint Paul, MN. with the initials of ‘JSL’ inside the band.

I did some searching on the internet and Classmates.com was where I learned the owner’s full name.  After ‘googling’ his name,  I was sad to see that he had passed away one year prior.  This news made me realize that it was very important that I find the next of kin. I knew that it would mean a lot to them.

The obituary listed several family members and I was able to contact both the man’s wife and one of his sons, who both live in Idaho.  They said that Jeff had enlisted to serve our country right after high school and moved to Idaho immediately after his service – so he must have lost the ring shortly after high school back in 1965!

I was thrilled to talk to Jeff’s wife and her son, Ty; and I mailed the ring to them immediately.  Here is what Janet wrote to me:

“Reese, Ty and I want to thank you for returning Jeff’s class ring.  Such a kind and wonderful thing you do.  Jeff was very athletic through high school and college.  He was your typical gym rat.  Jeff earned his college degrees in Special Education.  He was a teacher & administrator for 37 years.  We have 2 sons –  Ty and Brady.  I am so grateful to have them in my life.  Thank you so much for your time and research into the rings origin, it’s a reminder that there are great, kind people out there. – Janet Lang”

Below are some pictures that Janet and Ty sent to me.  The first picture is of Janet and Ty.  The other two are of the ring with Jeff’s actual 1965 Central High School year book and the ring next to Jeff’s yearbook picture.

It was very evident to me that Jeff was deeply loved, respected and missed.