LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — More than 30 years after a class ring was lost in a Lexington park, it’s now back in the hands of its owner.
Michael Blankenship is an avid treasure hunter with his metal detector. He visits local parks on most of his days off, he said.
One day last week, Blankenship was in Lexington’s Woodland Park when he got an interesting signal.
"It was about six inches in the ground and sure enough it was a class ring and I thought that was really great," he said.
His first thought, he said, was to try to find the ring’s owner.
"It’s kind of like the code of honor," Blankenship said. "If you find a class ring, you try to do a return on it."
His wife searched online for the high school listed on the ring, as well as the initials. That’s when she found Cheryl Stephen, Blankenship said.
"I sent her a message, I said, ‘I know you might think it sounds kind of weird but I found this ring and it’s kind of linking back to you’," he said.
Stephen was shocked to get the message, she said, but thought it could be her ring.
Stephen now lives in Ohio but lived in Lexington in the 80’s. She must have lost her high school class ring while jogging in Lexington’s Woodland Park, she said, but it was a mystery to her for decades.
Now she’s grateful to have her ring back.
"That was one of the last gifts that my mother got for me because she died before I graduated from high school," Stephen said. "So it was kind of like getting it again for the second time. It was nice."
Now the story of how the ring was found, she said, makes it even more special.
