OGDEN, Utah -- A class ring that was missing for 43 years was returned to a woman by a total stranger, but how and where he found it may surprise you.
“I’ve been metal detecting for 19 years,” said John Monroe of Ogden. “The days when you find something good, that’s when you’re excited.”
With a shovel and detector in hand, John hunts for treasure.
“Thousands and thousands of hours I’ve hunted," he said. "I’ve devoted so much time. Sometimes I go home with nothing, maybe a couple of quarters."
But he didn't come up empty-handed Sunday while sweeping the construction site at Liberty Park.
“I get to a point where there are lots of signals in one area,” Monroe said.
Beneath the dirt, John spotted a glimmer of gold.
“It was a Clearfield High 1973 class ring, and it was a woman’s ring, and I read the woman’s initials on the inside,” Monroe said.
He searched through a Clearfield 1973 year book to find the matching initials, “BLM”. He narrowed it down to Bonni Melany. John found her on Facebook and got her number from a friend of a friend.
Bonni was worried it was a scam, but some mutual friends said John was a good guy so they met up.
“I was excited, I’m going to hand this back to this lady after 43 years,” Monroe said.
The feelings were mutual.
“I was excited, I was shocked, I haven’t seen it since 1973,” Bonni Jensen said.
Bonni said an old boyfriend is to blame.
“I was going with a guy, and I thought I’d give him a ring to go steady, but when we broke up and I wanted my ring back he said he lost it,” Jensen said.
After all these years, Bonni is happy to have it back.
“I’m glad he was a good honest person,” Jensen said.
“If I could find the owner, I would never scrap that, it was worth way more money to see her face,” Monroe said.
Now Monroe is continuing his hunt for more treasure.
“That was an experience, not everyone gets to be a part of someone else’s story,” Monroe said.
