A class ring from Tewksbury, Massachusetts, missing for more than four decades, is finally going back to its owner.
Back before Jon Richards got married and started a family, he says he had nothing but time on his hands.
"I bought a metal detector in 1980 and I took it all around," the Wilmington resident said.
Richards used to spend hours searching for rare coins. But from time to time, he'd also come across rings.
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Last weekend, while moving stuff around, he stumbled upon a box he had forgotten about sitting in his basement. He noticed a Tewksbury High School class ring from 1979 with a name inscribed on it.
"Back then, it was hard to get in touch with people, so I just threw it in the box, but now in the days of social media, I'm like, 'I bet I can find who this person is,'" Richards said.
After more than 40 years, that's exactly what he did. Except the ring's original owner wasn't in the Tewksbury area anymore. She now lives in North Carolina.
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"It's just wild," said Elaine Chambers. "It's funny how things come around. I never imagined such a thing."
Chambers says she remembers the day she lost her class ring in North Reading like it was yesterday.
After repeated attempts to try to find it, she eventually gave up, assuming it was buried in the sand and that she would never see it again.
"I think I searched for quite a while, because I just got it, and I didn't want the people that paid for it to get mad at me," she said.
The person who paid for it was her mother, and that connection also carried weight for her.
"She's been gone for a long time, so it has extra meaning for it," Chambers said.
Grateful to soon have it back, she says she hopes to get a chance to meet Richards in person one day.
"It just reaffirms there are good people out there," she said.
