Aug. 3 (UPI) — A Virginia man on a quest to find the owner of a high school class ring he found among his items destined for auction was able to reunite the ring with the woman who lost it nearly 30 years earlier.
Richard Wornom said he was cleaning out the York County rental home he used as sale grounds for his auctions when he found a box of items he had intended to auction years earlier.
Wornom said the box contained a Tabb High School class of 1981 ring engraved with the initials “JLH” and he decided to try to see if he could find the item’s owner.
He posted about the ring on Facebook in January, but didn’t get any leads. A few months later he enlisted the help of neighbors Karrie and Lyndon Amory, who are both Tabb graduates, and they brought in Lyndon’s cousin, Susan Rollins Voss, vice president of the Tabb Alumni Association.
Rollins Voss said she identified four 1981 graduates with matching initials, and was quickly able to rule out the first three. The fourth person, Janet Lynn Harris, was not on social media.
Janet Lynn Harris, now Janet Clayton, had relocated to North Carolina in 1993, making her difficult to find. Rollins Voss said her posts on the alumni Facebook page came to the attention of Clayton’s ex-husband’s brother’s wife, who was able to reach out through family.
Clayton said the last time she can recall seeing her ring was 29 years ago, shortly before she lost her home in York County. Wornom said many of the items he receives to auction come from people who lost their homes.
Clayton said the ring, which had been a gift from her father shortly before his death, still fits snugly on her finger.