Man who found class ring in 1985 hunting crawdads finally finds its owner

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — A man who found a class ring in 1985 as a child hunting crawdads was able to finally find the jewelry’s owner.

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Larry Vueleman was in the water at Hill Park searching for crawdads when he found the ring. It belonged to a 1970 graduate of Fort Osage High School with the initials RKF, KMBC reported.

“It’d been in the water at that point we figure 16 years,” Vueleman said.

He took the ring home, and his parents contacted the school. However, the school said it would be unable to find out who it belonged to after so long. The initials were not enough.

Vueleman recently found it and decided to try and find the owner again. He took the ring to a cleaner, then posted images of it on social media. Within about a day, he was able to find the owner.

“I was drinking coffee and saw it and was like, ‘Well, that’s Rick Fagan’s.’ Rick graduated a year ahead of me and we were really good friends,” Shari Miller told KMBC. “He said (he) lost the ring in 1970 by the tennis courts there at Hill Park.”

Vueleman was able to meet with Miller, who plans to give the ring to Fagan when they are able to get together in person. Miller said Fagan is grateful for its return after so long.

“His parents bought it for him and they’re no longer here,” Miller said.

Cox Media Group