Nearly three decades later, a Forsyth County High School alumna will be reunited with her class ring.
Elizabeth Beard, known as Annette Woods in her senior yearbook, said she was “shocked” when she received a phone call that her 1981 class ring had been found — 28 years ago.
“Usually when you lose something, especially that many years ago, you think, ‘Oh, it’s gone,’” Beard said. “Knowing that somebody had actually kept it, that’s something.”
The finder, Tammie Kennedy, said she had uncovered the ring at a park in Blairsville in 1982 or ’83, when she was about 12 years old.
The south Hall County resident said she’s been holding onto it ever since in a childhood jewelry box, which she recently uncovered in her home.
Kennedy contacted Forsyth County Schools, with the information that the ladies ring had the initials “EAW.”
The initials matched those of just one 1981 graduate, but the trail turned cold when no contact information could be found, said Judi Jenkins, the system’s business and community relations facilitator.
An FCN news article Oct. 16 got some quick results. Jenkins said one of her friends, who is a private investigator, saw the story and offered to locate the woman.
Jack Branson of Branson & Associates LLC found Beard in McEwen, Tenn. Jenkins gave her a call.
Kennedy said after all these years of holding onto the ring, she was surprised at how quickly the owner was found.
“I feel relieved,” she said, as she handed over the ring to Jenkins to mail it.
The classic, antique gold ring has a mother of pearl stone, with a bulldog engraved on one side, and the word “beginnings” on the other.
Beard said the last time she had seen it was at an apartment she moved out of in Buford.
She’s never visited Blairsville, so Beard thought someone else may have found the ring in the apartment and brought it to the park, where it was dropped.
However it came into Kennedy’s hands, Beard said she was grateful that the stranger returned it.
“I thank her very much for trying to find out who that ring belonged to,” she said. “That means a lot.”