Missouri High School Ring Returned after Almost 60 Years

Two historical surveyors have returned a high school class ring to its owner nearly 60 years after it went missing in a southwestern Missouri cave.

The Springfield News-Leader reports Jackalyn and Chadwick Oldham uncovered the 1960 Osage High School class ring at Smallin Civil War Cave last year. They contacted the Osage Beach school’s alumni network in search of the ring’s owner.

Peggy McLaughlin Foraker of Trophy Club, Texas, contacted the Oldhams a few days later. Foraker shared how losing that ring influenced her future.

Foraker was 19 when she lost the ring on a field trip to the historic Ozark cave. Her then-boyfriend Gene Grounds decided to replace it with another: an engagement ring. The couple married and had two children.

Foraker says the ring brings back fond memories.