A high school graduation ring was found after nearly 40 years of disappearance and returned to its owner.
According to a report from WWSB-TV, Diver Shawn Rauch made an impressive discovery while combing the shores of Lido Beach in Sarasota, Florida with his underwater metal detector . “I’m just for fun,” he told the media.
While diving in late May, Rauch spotted a high school class ring. “Going out to find a wedding ring in 8 feet of water, but found my first professional ring!” He shared with Southwest Florida Metal Detection Facebook Group“Graduated in 1986, now looking for a master…”
In the comment section of the post, Rauch reported that he had traced the ring back to Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia. Although some commentators speculated how much the ring might be worth after being sold or melted, Rauch still firmly returned the ring to its rightful owner.
Rauch is not alone in using social media to reconnect people with lost valuables. Facebook Favorite group Purchase a Tier Ring to reunite with the rightful ownerPart of it is run by administrator Richard Escobedo to help the lost ring find their home.
“I graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in San Antonio, Texas in 1982,” Escobedo shared with us Weekly newspaper“Fifteen years later, my pride and joy course ring was stolen from my house. I love high school and I was in the Mighty Rocket band for 4 years. I was shocked when it was stolen… .. It happened in 1997. The next day, I went out to look for it in pawn shops, flea markets, and second-hand goods.”
Although Escobedo hadn’t found his own ring, he realized in the late 1990s that the jewelry he analyzed at the pawnshop included other people’s rings. He decided to buy them himself and find their owners from 1997 to 2017, and then start his Facebook group in 2019. With the help of Shanna F. Pierce, his page is a “team effort” dedicated to buying class rings and “reuniting them to give to owners from all over the world.”
“Facebook is great! [It’s] I study the platform of choice for legitimate owners,” Escobedo and Weekly newspaper“I found 95%-100% of the rightful owners on Facebook. When I use it, I use school alumni groups, especially family and friends to contact. This really helps my search. and [has been] very successful.
“The internet is very helpful. I am in San Antonio and it would be difficult to find the rightful owner without these platforms.”
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At the same time, in Florida, Rauch told WWSB-TV that he began to search the school’s 1986 graduation records online, and using the initials engraved on this piece, he was able to infer that the ring might belong to three people one of the.
“I searched for a high school he graduated from,” he told the media. “There are three people in his graduating class with the same initials.”
With the help of some sympathetic alumni he found in the online yearbook, Sean found the owner of the ring, Mark Murray, Georgia.
When Murray received a call about the ring he lost 36 years ago, he couldn’t believe it was true. “I can’t even tell you the way it makes me feel, words can’t describe it,” he told WWSB-TV.
“Thirty-six years ago, I got the ring from the third grade of high school, and I lost it two weeks later,” Murray added. “I remember my father was very angry with me, how much he spent on this, I lost it in two weeks.”
Rauch also gave a detailed account of his YouTube Channel, detect Florida. In the video, he detailed how he found the ring and the investigation process that he eventually found Murray. He even shared the phone number he told Murray that his ring had been found.
“Hey, Mark, this is Sean. I think I found your professional ring!” Rauch said.
“You know, in the past 24 hours or so, my friends have been contacting me and saying the same thing!” Murray replied enthusiastically. “It’s so fucking funny… I was so scared.”
Rauch was able to send the ring back to his home, and he told WWSB-TV how the precious jewels being able to reunite with their owners brought him such joy.
“It’s fun to look for gold and diamonds, you know, Rolex watches. But so far, the best part is getting these reactions from people who think these very sentimental things have finally gone home,” he told the media.
Like Rauch, Escobedo also successfully returned 80 level rings to their owners. “I think [it’s] I have a responsibility to get them off the shelves, because many times people sell them and eventually they melt and disappear forever! “He told Weekly newspaper“In my group, I give members hope! I want them to know not to give up their hope. Because it can be somewhere.
“not sure… [about ring loss] He added, noting that he believes millions of rings have been lost or stolen across the country. “This number is crazy!” “
Weekly newspaper Rauch was contacted for further comments, but did not respond to publication in time.
Rauch and Escobedo are not the only ones who have done an impressive job in finding lost jewels.
In April, a California diver Reunited with husband with the lost wedding ring After recovering the gold belt from the bottom of the river.May, alone Recovered a woman’s engagement ring Two days after it fell into the largest lake in England. A little fish unexpectedly found a wedding ring What the snorkeler sees is around its body.
