Missing class ring returned to Vail woman two decades later

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Susan Cooper lost her class ring in Tucson more than 20 years ago and assumed it was gone forever.

Her daughter wore it when she went to Fountain of Life Lutheran Church. Cooper’s daughter took it off to wash her hands and lost it.

Shortly after, Jean Rhoades found the ring but couldn’t locate the owner.

Fast forward two decades and the answer came thanks to a Facebook post.

“It was about 20 years ago, I was teaching sixth grade and in the ladies restroom I found this ring by the sink,” Rhoades said. “So, I went ahead and took it and stored it in my desk at school and posted signs around the campus, put an article in the Ripples newsletter and just tried to see if we can locate her by word of mouth.”

But no one came forward and the ring ended up in her jewelry box until recently.

This past week, Rhoades was digging through her jewelry box and saw that ring again.

She knew it was time to get serious about finding the owner. She found a class Facebook page and made a post asking if anyone knew who the initials “S.F” could belong to.

“In less than 12 hours from that first posting, Susan and I connected,” Rhoades said.

Cooper said her best friend growing up saw the post and matched the initials together.

“She tagged me in the post. So I was able to see the post and contact Jean right away,” Cooper said.

For a while, Cooper didn’t even realize it was gone.

“I didn’t even realize it was missing for a couple of years because, I just never wore jewelry,” Cooper said. “I was looking for something in my jewelry box and I noticed it was missing and I was just profoundly sad.”

Cooper said she’s grateful to have it returned.

As for this friendship?

They have some lost time to make up for.

“I’m going to go to some of her soccer games,” Cooper said.

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