December 10, 2019
The laundry department at a resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina came across a guest’s class ring from 1969 that had been mixed up in the bed linens. It was given to Housekeeping Dispatcher Jill Davis to place in the lost and found. However, not being satisfied to leave the irreplaceable item sitting in the lost and found and waiting for an owner to claim it, Jill took action.
Jill started by spending countless hours searching Google to look for any clues about the ring’s owner. She reached out to a number of high schools that bore the acronym “BHS” as found on the ring. Finally, she received a response from Bonnie Burkett, an administrator at Bertie High School in Windsor, North Carolina, who confirmed the ring was from their school. Jill, who had a sense of how valuable the ring must be to its owner, took a detour on her vacation to drive to Windsor and hand deliver the ring to Bonnie at the school.
She expressed to me in her short visit to BHS that she desperately wanted to get the ring back to Shirley, especially if she had worn and cherished it for the last 50 years. With all the crazy and mean things happening in the news today, it is wonderful to know there are still genuine, caring people in the world
With the ring in hand, Bonnie pulled the 1969 yearbook to search for more clues. She found one senior that year whose initials matched those in the ring: Shirley Ruth Bazemore. Next, she took to Facebook to try to locate Shirley. She posted photos and the story of what happened asking for any leads. Her Facebook post was shared 179 times, and only 20 minutes after posting the story, her phone rang and it was Shirley, whose sister had seen the post. The next morning Shirley went to the high school and reclaimed her cherished class ring. She was so thankful to have her treasured ring that she had worn for 50 years returned to her.
Bonnie said of the experience, “I will cherish the smile on her face and the multiple hugs that she gave me for a long time. I am grateful to [Jill Davis], who went over and beyond expectations to ensure the 50-year-old class ring got back to its owner. She was even thoughtful enough to physically drop it off to me at the new Bertie campus on a detoured route to Windsor from her vacation in Pennsylvania going back home to Myrtle Beach. Most people would have just said, ‘Oh well, someone lost their class ring,’ and would have just put it lost and found. She expressed to me in her short visit to BHS that she desperately wanted to get the ring back to Shirley, especially if she had worn and cherished it for the last 50 years. With all the crazy and mean things happening in the news today, it is wonderful to know there are still genuine, caring people in the world!”
Click here to read the story as covered in ABC 15 News.
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