Lost Class Ring Returned After Nearly 50 Years

A class ring from 1959 found its way home last Friday -- after missing for almost 50 years.

Nathan Garcia, a D.P. Morris Elementary School fourth grader, spotted the shiny treasure while biking near his school in Mansfield, Tex., KDAF reports.

"[At] first I didn't want to return it," Garcia told the news source, "and I kept it for a little bit and I thought what the owner would feel. So, I took it back and I returned it."

Garcia gave the ring to the school's staff, who, with the help of two high school students, helped track down the owner. The ring was engraved with the initials MEN.

After looking through library books, they zeroed in on a woman named Mary Elizabeth Sloan (maiden name North), who was a 1959 graduate of Mansfield High School.

"At first I didn't believe them," Sloan told KDAF, "and then they showed me the ring and I thought, 'what?'

Once she got over her surprise, Sloan was very grateful about the ring's return.

"It's a sentimental thing," she added. "I'm a very sentimental person. Things like this mean a lot to me."