Mark Knowlton lost his Dacula High School class ring while working near Stone Mountain Park 46 years ago. On Thursday, he’ll finally get it back.
While he searched the park multiple times using a metal detector, Knowlton never recovered the sentimental piece of jewelry that he lost in 1971. But more than a decade later, a woman did.
A woman whose identity hasn’t been disclosed found the ring some time between 1982 and 1985, Gwinnett County Public Schools said in a release. She never wore it, but kept it in a drawer in her home and took it with her when she moved away from the Atlanta area.
The woman decided on Aug. 21 that she wanted to reunite the ring and its owner. She contacted Dacula High School’s senior class advisor Alex Kesler, asking her to help figure out who the ring could belong to.
Kesler didn’t have access to an alumni directory, so she decided to post about the ring on Dacula High School’s social media accounts.
“Calling all former Dacula Falcons,” Kesler wrote on the school’s alumni page. “Someone found this 1970 class ring at Stone Mountain and would like to return it if possible.”
Five hours later, she found Knowlton.
“I lost it while working at Scenic Railroad just down from Memorial Station,” Knowlton wrote.
They confirmed it was his because the stone was cracked and Knowlton’s initials were engraved on the inside of the band.
Knowlton will receive his ring, nearly 50 years after he thought it was gone for good, in a ceremony at Dacula High School on Thursday.
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