Ohio Girl Finds Class Ring in Creek and Returns it to Owner for 45th Reunion

Aug. 11, 2011 -- Just in time for his 45th year class reunion in September, John Kaldmo has been reunited with his cherished Anderson High School class ring after losing it in a creek decades ago.

Fifth grader Avery Dorsch was exploring the Four Mile Creek in her Cincinnate suburb during nature writing camp when a small, shiny object among the rocks caught her attention.

The girl, who her mother says favors shiny rocks and glass in her personal collection, thought she had another find to add to her stash.

"I was in the creek with my friends when I picked it up and saw it was a ring. It was so exciting," Avery, 10, told ABCNews.com.

Kaldmo, who is now 63 and owns a tree farm, often shared with friends the story of his antics along the Four Mile Creek that led him to lose his ring.

About a month after his parents gave him the ring in 1966 to commemorate his graduation, Kaldmo went with his sister to explore the flooded creek area after a bad rainstorm and fell into the choppy water. After pulling himself back to dry land by pulling on a branch, he looked down to see that his treasured class ring had slipped off his finger.

High School Ring Found in Creek Bed After 45 Years

Despite several visits to the area following the incident, Kaldmo was never able to recover his graduation gift.

"It was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack and it was hard to tell my parents that I had lost it about a month after graduation," he recalled.

Avery found the ring, which cost $65 in 1966, on the presently dry creek bed just steps away from where Kaldmo had lost it.

"When Avery brought back the ring, we rubbed away the dirt and saw that it said Anderson High School, 1966" said her mother Suzanne Dorsch. "And I thought wow, there has to be a story to this."

Together, mother and daughter rubbed away the remaining tarnish on the ring and found the initials "J.K."

In an effort to track down its owner, the pair visited a neighbor's home to scan old Anderson High School yearbooks for clues about the mysterious "J.K." Unable to identify anyone with those initials, Dorsch turned to an internet search and stumbled upon the Anderson High School Class of 1966 reunion website.

Dorsch emailed the reunion committee and was connected with "J.K." – John Kaldmo – and quickly arranged an emotional meeting to return the ring to its rightful owner.

"The idea that this little girl returned John's ring, it's just remarkable when she could have sold it for gold or kept it," said his wife Ginny Kaldmo.

Kaldmo had to have the ring slightly resized to fit after 45 years.

Kaldmo said that he can't wait to show off his ring at the upcoming 45th year reunion next month. "Can you believe it looks so good after 45 years? It looks better than me," Kaldmo joked.