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Ring returned after decades |
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Friday, 12 June 2009 |
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 Staff photo/Katie Yantis: Colleen Bradley, of St. Marys, shows a class ring from a 1951 Shawnee High School graduate she found at Grand Lake St. Marys. By KATIE YANTIS
Staff Writer
ST. MARYS — After wading through water, clearing away some mud and doing a little research, a class ring from a 1951 Shawnee High School graduate will soon be with its original owner.
St. Marys resident Colleen Bradley was going about her daily search in a swimming area on Grand Lake St. Marys May 31 with a metal detector — one of her hobbies — when she came across something that represented a good “ping” noise.
“There was nothing that day, it was really clean, the beach area was clean that day, I only found an nickel and all of a sudden I heard a ratty sound and thought it was a can,” Bradley said.
“I removed it, dug up a piece, rechecked it and part of a chain came up and I thought I was done.”
Bradley said she scanned over the area one more time, only to hear the pint noise she described when finding something.
“I got it within two tries,” Bradley said. “It was 12 inches under in the water, about 10 feet away from the buoys.”
After finding the ring, she discussed it with a fellow detector of the Black Swamp Metal Detecting Club.
“He told me to just add it to my collection,” Bradley said. “He said you will never find her.”
Bradley decided to clean the ring off despite the advice given to her and began her search to find the ring’s owner.
“First of all I looked at the Internet, under the lostmyring.com, I tried all those things, I called Shawnee High School and spoke with the secretary Joanie Moore,” Bradley said. “She went out in the hallway and the class composites didn’t go back that far, so she connected me with the Superintendent Secretary Teresa DeCurtins.”
Bradley said DeCurtins went to the hallway and looked at the class composites and found only one person with the same initials as those on the ring, N.G. The ring belonged to the former Nancy Goodenough, now Nancy Carter.
“It was Nancy, it’s a women’s ring and it was young lady, so that was good,” Bradley said.
After contacting one of Nancy’s brothers, contact was made between Bradley and Carter.
“She was in shock, she couldn’t believe that someone her daughter’s age found her ring,” Bradley said. “She said the lake was the place to be back then. She said Shawnee had their graduating party there and the water was cool.”
Bradley said finding the ring on May 31 was almost 58 years to the day of the graduation party for the class.
The ring is special to Carter, she has two daughters and “always struggled with which daughter to give the ring to” Bradley said. She said now she has two rings and each of them get one.
Bradley said Carter, 79, said she had friends that went together to buy her a new ring.
“They both have equal value because her friends came together in her hour of need,” Bradley said of Carter.
Now Bradley said she is going to show the ring at her meeting Wednesday for the club and will be sending it back.
“If it wasn’t for all the people that entered this story, I would have never found her,” Bradley said. “It’s just really nice to do something good for people and not expect anything in return. Even the people who worked at Shawnee didn’t expect anything and just wanted to know the results.” |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 13 July 2009 )
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