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| The Traveling Mendel High School ring |
| by Scott Buckner |
| Posted by |
2003-07-29 |
I fired up my browser, went to the Infoseek search engine and typed in the search phrase "Mendel Catholic High School." This search turned up the Illinois Alumni Net (www.infophil.com/Illinois/Alumni), a register of high school and college graduates who list themselves so classmates can connect with each other. I found someone listed from the class of 1964. I sent an e-mail to that person describing why I needed his help. The return message said his yearbooks had burned in a fire.
I went back to Infoseek and found the Web pages of three more Mendel grads. One of them would not only turn out to hold the key to my search, but he also found something socially redeeming in my trying to track down the ring’s owner. "What a neat email to receive!" wrote 1963 Mendel grad Tony Lavarda. "Thanks for taking the interest you have. It's things like this that help keep my faith in humanity so high. I'm going to have to dig hard to find that yearbook, if I have it at all. However, I have some friends who will surely have theirs. I'll put the word out and see what happens. Meanwhile, thanks again for your good deed."
A few days later, Tony wrote back with paydirt. The owner of the ring was Carol J. Fulgoni of Boca Raton, Florida. "I found him because one of my cousins thought enough of the situation to dig out his old yearbooks and email me with the potential lead," wrote Lavarda. "I spent about 40 minutes with Carl on the phone this morning and found it one of the most interesting conversations I've had in a long, long time."
Carl was, needless to say, amazed that his ring was found some 20 years later. "Tony Lavarda called Aug. 4 with the news that you have found my high school class ring! It is really an incredible story," Fulgoni said in an e-mail to me. "I remember the day it was lost in Lombard IL around 1978 or a few years earlier. I was shoveling my car out from a heavy snowfall at my apartment complex, and after coming inside, realized it was missing. Taking a fur lined glove on and off several times outside resulted in my losing it. The deep snowdrifts didn't give me much hope of finding it then or later."
Carl has since been reunited with his ring. The part of this entire story that continues to mystify everyone involved in how the ring happened to travel from a snowdrift in an apartment complex parking lot to its final resting place under five inches of schoolyard dirt more than 50 miles away. When I dug up the ring, my first thought was the ring belonged to a present or former teacher at the school. When I first found the ring, a little mental math indicated the owner would now be 52 years old, which is about the age you’d expect a grammar school teacher or principal to be if the ring was lost fairly recently. Even if the ring had been lost during the late 1960s or mid-1970s, the owner would have been in his late 20s to mid 30s – prime age for someone on his first or second teaching job after college.
There are probably a few hundred ways the ring made its way to my neighborhood schoolyard. My best explanation is a neighborhood youngster visiting a relative in Fulgoni’s apartment complex happened across the ring once the spring thaw rolled around, took it to school to show his friends and re-lost it during recess or playing after school.
Should you go to the effort I did to try to return a high school ring if you happen to dig one up? That’s between you and your personal ethics. Of course, if there are no marks on the ring that would point to the identity of the owner, it’s perfectly fine to keep the ring with a clear conscience. But if there is even one sliver of a clue to work from, you should do all you can to locate the owner, even if it means expending more than a little personal effort.
Most high school rings will be found within close proximity to the high school named on the ring. This means you can either go to the high school to comb through a yearbook from that year, or call the school’s main office. High school libraries keep yearbooks dating back to the year the school was established, so no matter how old the ring is, you can match the initials to a very small list of names. If you’re not able to go to the school, contact its main office. You’ll find plenty of clerical or administration-level school employees who will be more than willing to help you. And sometimes, you find complete strangers willing to bend over backwards to help you, too.
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by Scott Buckner
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| comments |
| 2015-01-15 16:50 - mfb1942 | | It |
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| 2010-03-01 12:11 - dustykr | I lost my class ring less than 24 hours of getting it. A pair of brothers that lived next door to me saw me standing on a boat pier in McHenry, Illinois, and thought it would be funny if they pushed me into the water. As we wrestled around, I threw the first brother off the pier , and tragically when I threw the second one in, his hand grabbed onto my ring as he joined his brother. The ring landed in the lake. That was the last I saw of it. I have missed it for over fifty years. To this day I would replace it if I could. it meant so very much.
Ken Dust Class of 1956
Neskowin, Oregon |
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| 2010-02-22 15:45 - ddavis76 | My class ring was lost at the University of Chicago Press(they recruited several students to do book packing back in the day). Took it off to wash my hands and, of course, forgot about it until the next day at class. When I called the offices to see if anyone had returned it( suprise, suprise) no one had. So, I'm STILL hoping that it will turn up.
Derrick Davis '76 |
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| 2009-06-11 17:45 - jriordan | | Still have my ring...looks brand new because I gave it to Kathy DeMiere a day after I got it. Kathy was the Homecoming Queen in 1962 and we married in 1966...four kids and thirteen grandkids later...we got a good laugh looking at the ring with the wax inside and angora still around it....Jim |
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| 2009-05-19 15:23 - MendelBoy | Sad to say I lost my Mendel ring at West Pullman park pool where it was stolen out of my pants pocket in a locker that I unfortunately did not have a lock on back in ' 64. Since I only had since '62, I sure wish I would have had a lock on that locker
.I have met many Mendel guys over the years by recognizing the old ring.
Brian Marton '62 |
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| 2006-05-10 19:57 - alevy015 | MY RING WAS LOST SOMETIME AROUND 1985 IN URBANA, IL. IT WAS A WHITE BIRTHSTONE FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL. IF BY SOME STRANGE MIRACLE IT TURNS UP IN THIS LIFETIME OR THE NEXT.....LET ME KNOW.
ANTHONY E. LEVY
CLASS OF 1983 |
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| 2005-07-15 15:20 - chazglenn3 | I too lost my class ring via the US Military. Mine tuned up missing during basic training in the Air Force in 1982.
Charles Walsh, Class of 1980
Tacoma, WA |
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| 2005-06-23 11:36 - CPD9102 | LOST MY RING THE FIRST SUMMER OF GRADUATION, 1963.
PUT IT IN MY GOLF BAG WHILE PLAYING GOLF AT
"PIPE 'O PEACE" GOLF COURSE. AFTER THE ROUND I DISCOVERED A HOLE IN THE BAG POCKET AND MY RING WAS NOW SOMEWHERE OVER THE 18 HOLES EXPANSE.
PROBABLY CHEWED UP BY THE MOWER.
I SURE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE IT BACK........
LEE ZALALIS 1963 |
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| 2004-12-22 20:46 - rbhecker | | I went back to Chicago in 2002 to honor my parents' graves and visited my old home on 11431 Washtenaw Avenue. The current owners were quite gracious when I introduced my self and they mentioned that they had found a 1969 Mendel ring in the flower beds about ten years ago! - obviously mine! The sad story is that they contacted "someone" who knew "someone" who had attended Mendel and they passed off the ring to "them". What are the chances it will turn up again? ... and all of this tme I thought Andrea Alleman held it close to her heart! I actually called "the soon to be grandma Andrea" tonight and she and her husband had a good chuckle on hearing the story. Oh, the luck of the "half Irish" from Saint Cajetan's Parish. Doc Hecker - San Antonio TX. |
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| 2004-04-04 16:28 - Petes | I am a '63 graduate and still have my Mendel ring safely enclosed in a box.
Pete Seiler |
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| 2003-11-25 14:42 - hameetman | This story has inspired me to search out my belongings for my class ring. One thing I do remember, during an animated discussion with my girlfriend, the ring was tossed to the ground and broke the stone. (Is that warranteed, too?). I know I found it than, but I'm not sure where I put it next. I will continue my search. Ah, youth!
Ron Hameetman, Class of 1962
Fox River Grove, IL |
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| 2003-11-20 18:12 - fleshwm | I love this story. I'm an 85' Mendel Man, and I know own a franchise of Jostens Class Rings. I'm going to utilize this story in my meeting's with the students. Another ironic part of this story is that my office is in the Roseland area.
I'm located down the street from Mendel at 517 W. 111th st. If there is anyone else out there who still has your ring, don't forget it came with a life-time warranty. We can resize it, re-do it make sure you take advantage of this.
Flesh 85' |
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| 2003-11-14 16:33 - PGKOKO | My own Class ring (Mendel 1958) was stolen at the Army Induction Center at Ft. Knox, KY in September 1963. My bag was cut open and my Class Ring, Watch, etc. removed. Of course, the Army denied any responsibility, and I never saw it again. Should it ever turn up. I'd sure like to have it back.
Paul Koko, Class of 1958
Oak Park, IL |
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