Owner recovers class ring after 47 years

OAK PARK, Ill., June 12 (UPI) -- A high school class ring lost decades ago has been returned to its elderly owner thanks to the sleuthing of a suburban Chicago woman, an official says.

Executive Director Frank Lipo of the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest credits Jill Bakke's detective work for locating the ring's owner, 85-year-old Marjorie Calvert, the Chicago Tribune reported Friday.

Bakke, of Oak Park, contacted the historical society after she found a 1942 class ring engraved with the initials "MCC" while weeding her flowerbed.

Studying a 1942 yearbook and graduation program convinced Bakke the ring belonged to Marjorie Calvert who was Marjorie Cassidy when she attended Oak Park and River Forest High School.

"I let one of my children wear it," Calvert said. "She lost it while she was out."

Calvert said she had lived a block away from Bakke's current home and her daughter played baseball with the boy who lived next door.