Class ring returned 44 years after it was lost
Published: March 10, 2006
When former Mattoon resident John McKleroy received an e-mail from a stranger that his class ring had been found, he was inclined not to respond.
“You just never know nowadays,” said McKleroy, who has lived in Oklahoma City since 1977.
But another e-mail followed with detailed information about the ring, and McKleroy knew immediately it was the one he lost in 1962.
“I remember losing that ring,” said McKleroy. “I got the ring my junior year and I lost it right after I got it. I was on a retreat in 1962 with the First Methodist Church youth group.”
The group was visiting what is now Lake Shelbyville. Back then, there was no lake. The area was a forest of grass, trees and thick brush. At the time he lost it, McKleroy searched in vain for the ring but to no avail.
“It was all rough country,” said McKleroy. “This is kind of funny, but I just knew in the back of my mind when they (the Army Corps) completed the dam, my ring would probably be at the bottom of the lake someday.”
He gave up hope of recovering the ring.
McKleroy attended Mattoon High School until his junior year and then moved with his family to Jacksonville, Fla., where he graduated in 1963.
Just about 45 years after McKleroy lost the ring, Paul Schultze, armed with his metal detector, trekked to Lake Shelbyville in hopes of locating artifacts. Schultze, of Elmhurst, had heard of the chautauquas that were held once on the land at Lake Shelbyville.
“I decided to go and see what was left of the old Chautauqua grounds,” said Schultze. “I started playing around with the metal detector and found the ring. It was down about four or five inches into the ground.”
The ring was a man’s ring with the initials JM, the MHS crest and the year 1963. The investigation to find the owner of the ring began for Schultze.
“I have been a metal detectorist for about 28 years,” Schultze said. “Over the years, I have given back 200 class rings. I try my best to give back the class rings to each person. You have everything on the class ring you need to find the person. On older class rings, I just try to find a relative of the person who is still living to give the ring to them.”
Schultze asked his daughter, who lives in Monticello, to visit Mattoon and search through old yearbooks to try and find the identity of the mystery person with the initials JM.
She didn’t find any male students in 1963 with the initials JM, but she did find a John McKleroy in 1962. McKleroy wasn’t pictured in the ‘63 yearbook because he had moved to Florida.
Through Internet searches, they located McKleroy.
The ring was recently mailed to McKleroy.
“The ring is in perfect condition,” said McKleroy. “It’s great. It doesn’t have a scratch on it.”
Genealogy is a hobby for McKleroy and he knows the detective work is similar to what Schultze experiences trying to solve the many mysteries with found items. He appreciates Schultze’s effort to return the ring to him.
“It restores your faith in people,” said McKleroy. “You think the world is a jaded place and then something like this happens.”
Receiving the ring brought back memories of Mattoon for McKleroy.
“It is kind of a connection to Mattoon,” said McKleroy. “I grew up there and I had a lot of friends and acquaintances there. I had a lot of good feelings about Mattoon. It was a great place to grow up.”
If you enjoyed this good news Subscribe to Good News Blog
Share this
To share this simply copy and paste one of the below URL's: