Man, 77, Reunites with the Class Ring He Lost on a Beach Over 55 Years Ago: ‘It’s in Marvelous Condition’

A man was recently reunited with his college class ring after losing it more than 50 years ago.

Al DiStefano, 77, lost his Fordham class ring in the Long Island Sound while hanging out on a Cedar Beach pier in May 1969, according to the New York Post. The 21-year-old at the time had paid $110 for the gold ring with a garnet stone and couldn’t afford a replacement.

“It was a nice ring,” DiStefano told the Post. “It was important to me. I probably should have spent a little more time looking for it.”

Cut to over 55 years later, when Long Island, N.Y. resident Dave Orlowski was sweeping Cedar Beach with a metal detector. Orlowski told the Post he got what he called “a good hit” on the detector and started digging in sand in waist-deep water.

“I was digging, digging, digging. When I pulled up the ring, I couldn’t believe the size and condition,” Orlowski, 56, recalled.

Orlowski, who has collected gold and silver objects over the past 25 years, said he briefly thought about keeping the ring because it could be worth about $2,000 since it contained white gold palladium.

However, the career electrician said his wife, Denise, convinced him to find the ring’s original owner.

“She told me it would be bad karma to keep the ring since we had the name of the person inscribed,” he told the Post. “She asked me if I’d want my ring back in that situation, and that answered my question.”

Orlowski eventually found a Fordham Class of 1969 Facebook group and reached out to the group’s administrator, Karen Manning, who helped connect him with DiStefano.

“David made me feel good about people again for going out of his way to try to find the owner,” Manning told the Post.

DiStefano, a retired oncologist now living in Texas, was amazed when he heard the ring had been found.

“Once in a blue moon, I’d think about the ring having a nice life at the bottom of the Sound,” he told the Post.

“He [Orlowski] mailed it to me, and I got it less than a week later — it’s in marvelous condition. I’m wearing it now. I figured I ought to make up for lost time,” DiStefano added.

He also said he has thanked Orlowski many times and plans to send him some gifts from Texas to show his appreciation.