Lost & Found Class Rings |
Below you will read stories of giving. |
But this story, has a very happy ending. Being the webmaster of the FHS page has brought me, Beth, many joys. I receive a lot of emails and phone calls for all kinds FHS related things, transcripts, lost friends and deaths from all over the US. But these are the emails I love the most: On Jan. 15th 2017 I received several emails from a Mr. John Keys. The first email I read from John said he found a ’75 ring and was looking for a KKM, said it was ladies ring, and could I help him. I looked in the yearbook and found a Karla Mitchell and posted on Facebook that I was looking for her. I was surprised to find out it was Karla Richardson… But if I had looked at my other mails first or looked the website I would have seen that Karla posted that she had lost her ring.. 2nd email I read: “I was cleaning out a drawer and found an envelope with a class ring from a 1975 French High School. It is a lady's ring with KMM engraved on the inside band. The envelope has CS # 005245 written on it. I do not know how it came into my possession, but I would like to return it to the owner if she is still alive. You can call me at XXX-XXXX or email me. I saw in the "lost rings" section of the web site where a Karla (Mitchell) Richardson lost her '75 class ring. The envelope may have been a pawn envelope. I hope we can find the owner.” So when I found out, I private messaged Karla told her I think we found her lost ring! She was, needless to say very excited! I gave Karla John’s phone #, but she had problems with the no. for some reason, so I called him and had a very nice chat, even though I was in the grocery store at the time and it was hard to hear. I told John I would have Karla try him again. She finally got though and talk to John. He told her the story of the ring and was glad to find its owner. By Jan. 17th the ring was in the mail! One of the other emails from John stated that during the time span that Karla lost the ring he worked at a small landfill and had a crew that sifted through the trash pulling out cans for recycling. The ring may have been turned in to me and never was able to locate the owner. This was before computers were up, popular and inexpensive. The ring sat in the back of desk drawer at home till I cleaned it out 2 weeks ago. Then after contacting you from the French High School web site, Karla had the ring in 3 days. And by Jan. 19th Karla posted this on Facebook!: “Thank you Beth and Mr. John Keyes from Huntsville, Tx. Got my ring back today. Still fits. Back story. Many moons and many lifetimes ago, I married. It was a very short marriage and I literally ran for my life. It's ok. Just made me stronger. I believe that he hocked my ring. I spoke on the phone with the very nice gentleman who found the ring, a Mr. John Keys from Huntsville. He doesn't remember where or when he found it. But, it is back where it belongs because of the hard work of our Beth Segree. Love and kisses.”
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Hello, my name is LuAnn Orlando Dupree SPHS ’72 alumni. My best friends name is Connie McGown Smith also an SPHS ’72 alumni. We’ve been friends since middle school. A couple of weeks ago Connie saw a news report about a class ring being returned to it's owner after 20 years and made her think about the one her husband, Gordon Smith, Silsbee ’72, had when they got married. Connie was helping her husband go through some of his boxes when she came across a class ring and asked who’s it was. He said a co-worker had it and didn't know what to do with it. Gordon asked if he could have it and try to find the owner. Gordon got the ring, put it in a box and had forgotten about it. Later Connie took a closer look at the ring and saw that it was a FHS ring. Connie’s mom, Elodie Saurage McGown was a FHS ’49 alumni so they gave it to her hoping she might find the owner. That was 1972! The ring sat in a drawer till 2014 when Connie saw the story on the news. She called her mom and asked her if she still had the ring and her mom said, "yes I do". Connie called me (Lou Ann) and asked if I could help her since she wasn’t online. The ring was a 1967 FHS class ring, with the initials - P.E.S. So my search began! While searching for FHS I found the FHS web-site. I found a Margaret E. Segree in the senior pictures, but the ring said P.E.S. not M.E.S.! Then I looked in the guest book and found Pegi Segree Andrews ’67, it stated she lived in Miss. it also said: referred by: “you told me, thanks sis!” and dated 1999. (I thought yea, she has a sister!!) My next stop was looking at Facebook. I found Pegi Andrews pictured with her twins and it favored the senior picture of her on the FHS web-site. But no friends were listed. Then I googled Pegi Segree Andrews and came up with an obituary from Apalachicola, Fl. for an R.D. Segree listing surviving children as: W. Wayne Segree, Pegi Segree, and Maribeth Segree. I went back to Facebook and searched Maribeth Segree and bingo, it listed Pegi and Wayne Segree as friends. Then went back the FHS site and noticed the webmaster was Maribeth Segree, knew it had to be Pegi’s sister! I emailed Maribeth and she responded. We were all so excited to finally find the owner of the ring that Gordon had safely kept for 46 years.! -----LuAnn
I, Beth, have to tell you, I was so excited to receive the email from LuAnn.
Playing a small role in helping others find the owners of lost rings has been so rewarding. When LuAnn emailed me and said she thinks she has found my sisters ring, I just couldn’t believe it, what are the odds, for it to maybe, be my sisters. I was speechless. Connie and Gordon Smith with the FHS ring ~~~~&~~~~~ Pegi's ring! |
I'm so glad that I can do my part in keeping the spirit of FHS going. It's been so awesome doing the web site and working with everyone. Doing the web site I have been able to do a lot of things, but I think this ( finding owners of lost rings ) has to be the best feeling of all! I received a phone call from a Bishop Frederick J. Sansone in St. Louis MO. He said he found my phone # on the FHS web site and hoped that I could help him. He found a FHS class ring in his mothers things. He stated that he had no idea how or where she had gotten the ring. But it looked to be from FHS in Bmt. The ring was from the class of '59 and the initials were LGS. I had a '59 year book and found whom we thought it might be -- L. Gail Sutton . I did some searching and made a few phone calls but nothing came up. Then I got to thinking maybe she had a brother or sister. I went through several year books and finally found a Grant Sutton in the class of '61. I looked in the phone book, found a Grant S. and called. Sure enough it was her brother. I explained what was going on and we were trying to locate Gail. They are going to call Gail for me and give her my phone number. Gail is living in Ottawa Il. now and called me back the next day. She was so excited to hear about her ring. I gave her Fred's number and she called him! Seems Gail use to ride the bus to see her family in IL. and one of the bus stops was in MO. Freds father had owned a tavern next to the bus stop and we are guessing that either his father found the ring, or some one found it and "exchanged" it for a few drinks lol. I talked to Gail again and Fred is mailing her ring! Oh what joy's and mystery's there are! Thank you Fred for your kindness and willingness to go the extra mile to return the ring. UPDATE! Gail called me and received her ring. She was so excited to have it back! She never believed she would see it again after all these years! |
This story starts in Nov. well, really I think it goes back to Sept. 2008, when Southeast Texas was devastated by Hurricane Ike. Still recovering from Rita, many Southeast Texans were struggling to get back to a “normal” life, when we were hit with Ike. Homes were just wiped off the peninsula. There was nothing left of people's lives. We all know the story of Ike by now. But what most of us don’t always know or hear about is the good deeds of people that suffered though Ike them selves. As residents started going back to see what they could find of their homes, they found bits and pieces of everyones lives scattered all over the peninsula. Where was my house? Who’s was this? What is that? There was really nothing left but memories and broken treasures buried in the sands of time. On Nov. 16th I received an email from Margo Hogan ‘70. She and her brother, Tom Hogan '67, owned the house that their parents built back in 1958, in Emerald I and while down there looking at their damage, Margo found several items. One of the things she found was a plastic box. Margo said the box was buried in the sand and she had walked over it, kicking it with her foot but walked on by thinking it was a broken piece of plastic, but something gnawed at her and she went back to dig it up. It was a small plastic box and was surprised when she opened it! It was a small jewelry box, filled with jewelry. Margo said the jewelry box held several high school rings, one FHS and one BHS, the FHS ring looked to be from ‘52 or ‘57. And could I please post something on the FHS website for any one that might have lost their ring in the area to contact her. I posted a notice on the FHS website and sadly enough she didn’t get any response. On Nov. 29th I received another email from Margo. She had taken the jewelry out, cleaned it up some and noticed initials in the ring after all. N. M. H. And the year did looked to be ‘52 or ‘57. I looked in a ‘57 year book that I had and there were no girls in the senior class with the those initials and I didn’t have a ‘52. Margo searched and posted notices on several "Ike" blogs and web sites. Still nothing. A few days later I called a friend of mine, Jim Frederick, from the class of ‘52 and asked him to look in his year book for a girl with those initials. And guess what? Yes, he found one. I was so excited and emailed Margo back with the information. We even had her husbands name and an old address on Crystal Beach from a past reunion book that Jim had! Margo and I did some more searching. Margo found a listing in the Galveston county appraisal district for Freeman. They had lived on Sand Dollar, which is one street over from Emerald I. Her husband's name was B. F. Freeman. Margo looked again at the BHS man’s ring and the 3 initials in it were BFF. BINGO! We had truly found the owner, only we hadn’t! Of course all the phone lines were still down, so Margo had no way of contacting Noreen, AKA: Noreen M. Horton (Freeman) class of ‘52! Margo posted more “looking for’s” on several websites with no luck. Then one night I did a search for her husband, and found a Port Arthur newspaper archives from ’06. It was a wedding announcement, that listed Noreen Freeman and the late B.F Freeman as the grandparents of the bride. I emailed Margo with the names listed as the brides parents. I looked in the phone book for them and sure enough, there it was and gave the number to Margo. On Dec. 10th Margo talked to Noreen. We were all so excited. Noreen had lived at the beach and had lost everything, much like every one else. The jewelry in the box was all she had left of what her late husband had given her. Dates were set for a meeting and On Dec. 23, Margo, myself: (Beth), my son, Mike,(who was in for Christmas) Noreen and her daughter, Kelly, met at Casa ‘Ole.in Beaumont. What a wonderful feeling. And when I saw what was in the small jewelry box, I realize then what a very honest, giving, caring person Margo was! The box was full of gold jewelry. Worth a lot of money. Not everyone would have even tried to find the owner! But what the box held for Noreen, wasn't about worth, it was the memories and no amount of money could replace that. Margo showed her school pride and a caring heart, in searching for the owner of the FHS ring, when she her self had lost everything. Thank you Margo! You're awesome!!! Margo and Noreen looking at the jewelry --- Noreen remembering the things she thought she had lost forever! ---------- One small box, so many memories --------- BHS & FHS Rings
Update: The week before Christmas, Margo and her sister in law returned to looked for more treasures in their neighborhood and the location where she found Noreen's jewelry. Margo's sister-in-law, Jennifer, found a blue flat jewelry box with jewelry in it all covered with mud. When they got back to Bmt. they washed them off and there were some pearls in it. Margo called Noreen and believed they are hers! Within a few days Noreen claimed the pearls that she had lost in Ike. How awesome is that? Margo you are truly a treasure your self! |
Several years back, I received and email from a lady up north. She was digging in her flower bed and found a FHS ring. She found the FHS website and emailed me with the year and initals in the ring, I was able to locate the owner. It was so exciting to be able to help her find the owner of that ring too! |
This story is too funny, so I had to add it to my "ring" page. |
Robert Ramer Jr. '77 - lost his class ring shortly after he got it, in '76.
**Sadly, I went in a pawn shop recently and asked them about high school class rings, if they had any, or if they ever got them in.. he said YES, they do get them, but never keep them, they remove the stone and melt down the gold...... How sad...I did leave my card and asked him to please call me if he heard of any coming in. I can post it here. Also if you have any information on the rings listed above. ******************************************************* goodwill online auction Josten.com found rings Also Ebay.com ( you have to search high school rings) Back to FHS Site |