Darien Ladner of Pass Christian, Mississippi, hadn't even graduated yet when he lost his class ring at a beach party back in 1982.
He was a senior at Pass Christian High School, but even 44 years later, he can remember exactly when he lost the ring. Some friends immediately helped him search the sand, but to no avail. He even recalls returning with an assistant principal at the school who owned a metal detector, but they eventually gave up the search.
Then, earlier this week, Ladner got a message on Facebook from a hobby metal detectorist, Sammy Jewell, who had found the ring exactly where Ladner had lost it more than four decades earlier.
Ladner told WLOX,
Whenever I got the message Monday morning, I was ecstatic, I couldn't believe it, because it's been 44 years.
The ring was in excellent condition when Jewell found it, with only a minor scuff to show for its decades buried in the sand.
Ladner wrote on his Facebook page,
Over the years with beach erosion, heavy equipment working the ring made its way to a foot under the sand embedded in shells under the water. When his metal detector gave him signal he started looking and found my ring. With a little searching he located me and made sure to return it back. There is absolutely some good people still around and he is definitely one of them. Thank You Again Sammy!
