I was just hanging around the beach being myself.....
:-)
Class ring found in Norfork Lake nearly 38 years after it was lost
MAGGIE ROTERMUND
Bulletin Staff Writer
FLIPPIN — It will make a great story for the reunion.
Lewis E. Childers lost his class ring in 1968. Nearly 38 years later, the ring has been found and returned to him in time for his 40th class reunion this fall.
"It's just a wonderful feeling," Childers said.
It was spring of 1968 when Childers and his cousin went swimming at Walker's Resort. Tommy Walker was friends with Childers' grandfather, and he often went swimming at the resort.
Childers dunked his cousin under the water and in the process lost his class ring. "I've thought so many times about renting a metal detector and going to look for it," he said.
In fact, he says, he thought about going to look for the ring three days before Clint Peruchi contacted him about finding his ring.
"He called and said he found it, and I couldn't believe it," he said. "I knew as soon as he described it and where it was found that it was mine."
Peruchi was helping his father-in-law move his boat two weeks ago. The boat, docked at Tommy Walker Road on Norfork Lake, needed to be moved because of low water levels on the lake.
It was there, in the dirt near the dock usually under water, that Peruchi saw the inside band of a ring, covered with 30 years of dirt and tarnish.
"The boat dock was probably out 50 feet farther than usual because of the low water," Peruchi said. "If it wasn't, I never would have seen the ring."
The only distinguishing marks on the ring were the initials LEC and Thayer, Mo. High School 1966.
"We called the library in Thayer to see if they had old yearbooks," Peruchi said. "The librarian didn't have any, but said she would check her personal collection at home."
Peruchi said the librarian called back the next day to say she knew who it was and had called the man's wife. Now all that was left was to get confirmation from Childers himself.
"For 30 some years that ring has been on my mind," Childers said. "It was always in the back of my head to go look for it — I assumed it would be hidden somewhere under a foot of mud."
Childers spent the years following high school working for the railroad, doing a stint in the Army, a couple of years in college and has retired to his farm in Thayer.
"I had to stay in the Ozarks," he said. "It didn't take — I'm just not a city boy."
Childers offered a reward to Peruchi, who said he wouldn't accept anything for returning someone else's property. "I'm just happy to see it back where it belongs," he said.
Childers said Thursday he still intended to give Peruchi something for his efforts.