It was a high school reunion of sorts, decades in the making — and one that Nadine Moscinski said she never thought would happen.Moscinski, now 62, was reunited with her 1979 graduation ring from Stevens Point High School earlier this month when a good Samaritan came across the nostalgic piece of jewelry while walking along the beach at the Vista Royalle Campground in Bancroft, Wisconsin, according to multiple news reports.
Kyle Rasmussen told local TV station WAOW and local Wisconsin outlet OnFocus that he discovered the ring while he and his family was camping at Vista Royale. He noticed the ring glimmering in the sand, according to OnFocus, and picked it up to investigate.
Despite nearly a half century in the sand, the ring was still intact and Rasmussen used the details etched into it to make a public plea on Facebook to track down its owner.“Found this class ring this weekend,” Rasmussen posted in a local community group. “Stevens Point 1979. Name is Nadine Hopkins. Please tag if you know them.”Just hours after making the post, Rasmussen received a message from Nichole Dusche, Moscinski's daughter.
“That ring is my mom’s! She lost it decades ago. I remember her telling me she lost it at a beach because my dad always had his and she never had hers!” Dusche wrote in her message to Rasmussen -
, according to OnFocus.
Moscinski’s daughter connected the two, and Moscinski (née Hopkins) called Rasmussen, explaining that she lost the ring at the same beach in the 1980.
“My family grew up a few miles from the campground,” Moscinski told OnFocus. “Me and my sister would ride our bikes there just to go swimming. When I lost the ring, I remember telling my sister, ‘Oh my gosh, mom can’t find out about this.’ We made up excuses to go back and search for it. I searched for days, but through the years gave up.”
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WAOW reported that the ring is not only still legible, the stone inside of it is still securely in place.“My name is still engraved,” Moscinski told TV station WKOW. “My maiden name is in there. It’s shiny. I don’t know how it stayed like this. I couldn’t believe the stone didn’t just fall out or something.”She said she plans to keep the ring safe by displaying it alongside her late husband Jeffrey’s 1980 class ring.
“I am ecstatic about all of this,” she told OnFocus. “This is just unbelievable!”
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