Lost class ring found after 46 years

n Ring was lost in 1968 when Farmington grad worked in Gentry and Decatur

Photo by Pat Harris Gary Newberry holds the 1967 Farmington High School class ring that had belonged to his brother, W.L. Newberry. Mary Newberry said they were “shocked” when they were notified the ring had been found in Decatur. W.L. lost the ring in 1968.
Photo by Pat Harris Gary Newberry holds the 1967 Farmington High School class ring that had belonged to his brother, W.L. Newberry. Mary Newberry said they were “shocked” when they were notified the ring had been found in Decatur. W.L. lost the ring in 1968.

William Leonard "W.L." Newberry graduated from Farmington High School in 1967. A year later he was working in Gentry, loading chicken litter to haul to a farm, and lost his class ring.

Fast forward to July 2014. A dog named Denver was digging in his Decatur back yard when Denver's owner, Chelsey Robinson, noticed something "goldish" in the soil behind her patio.

"I have three dogs," Robinson said. "They all dig in an area off the patio but Denver is the one who digs the most, so I think he's the one who dug it up."

Robinson picked up the goldish-colored item and washed it off.

"I realized it was a class ring and thought, this needs to go to its owner," Robinson said.

Robinson then debated how to find the owner of a class ring that dated back to 1967. It had letters engraved on the inside.

"What was the best way to locate the owner? I decided to try Facebook, so I put the information about the ring on there," Robinson said.

She received a message the next day on Facebook telling her to contact Gary and Mary Newberry in Lincoln.

Robinson said the message was from someone who said he was a friend of W.L Newberry and knew his brother, Gary. He gave Robinson a phone number to call Gary Newberry.

Gary and Mary Newberry said they received a call from Robinson about a class ring she had found.

"We were shocked," Mary Newberry said. "We hadn't even thought about the ring W.L. had lost long ago. It was lost 46 years ago. It was unbelievable."

"My brother has been gone since 1986," Gary Newberry said. W.L. died in a farm accident.

Robinson and the Newberrys agreed to meet at a store in Siloam Springs for Robinson to show the ring to Gary Newberry.

"It was definitely W.L.'s ring," Mary Newberry said, adding as Robinson had said -- it had initials engraved inside the ring.

"Where the ring was found -- it used to be farm land when my brother helped load chicken litter at some Gentry chicken houses and helped deliver it to a farm in Decatur," Gary said. "That was during the time when he lost the ring. Now it's a subdivision."

"The ring is special to me because of losing my brother," Gary said. "It has sentimental value."

"It may only be worth a couple hundred of dollars," Mary said. "But its value to us is beyond speech -- it's priceless."

Gary and Mary agreed, W.L. would have been delighted to see the ring.

The Newberrys praised Robinson.

"She's the hero of this, because she took the trouble to find and locate us, to put a picture of the ring and information on Facebook," Mary said. "We appreciate her doing what she did so we have this ring today."

Robinson said she was surprised to get a message back so quickly on Facebook.

"It was just amazing. I didn't know if I would ever find out who the ring belonged to. I'm just glad they have the ring," she said.

"You hear of these things happening but you never think it will happen to you," Robinson added.

General News on 08/06/2014