Lost ring returned after 54 years

LUDINGTON, Mich., June 30 (UPI) -- A Michigan native says a man recently contacted her to say he had found a class ring she dropped in Lake Michigan in 1954.

Jan Zacharda, who had immediately replaced the ring after losing it during a visit to Ludington State Park, said she had forgotten about the lost item until she received a call from Robert Savage, the Ludington Daily News reported Monday.

"I looked at my husband and said, 'You have got to be kidding me,'" Zacharda said.

Savage said he found the ring 12 years ago while using his metal detector at a beach on Oxbow Lake, a body of water Zacharda said she has never visited. Zacharda said she has no idea what may have happened to the ring to carry it to the beach from distant Lake Michigan.

Savage said the ring was inscribed with the initials "JP" for Jan Pedersen -- Zacharda's maiden name -- an "L" for Ludington High School and the year of graduation, 1955. He said Zacharda was the only one in her class yearbook with those initials.

Zacharda said the returned ring now resides on her index finger, where it will be in less danger of slipping off.