Son-in-law finds lost ring after 43 years

CHAPMAN, Ala., May 14 (UPI) -- An Alabama woman who lost her class ring more than 40 years ago said she was shocked when her son-in-law found it after less than 10 minutes of searching.

Betty Black said she thought she would never see the Georgiana High School class ring again after she lost it while playing softball in Chapman 43 years ago, but her son-in-law, Wendell Watkins, decided to take another look at the plot of land, which he now owns, WSFA-TV, Montgomery, Ala., reported Monday.

"I walked out on the land and tried to figure out how the softball field was laid out," Watkins said. "I found the pitchers mound and then figured out where the backstop was. I was out there for 10 minutes and I saw something that looked out of place in the dirt. I yelled to my kids, I found it. They were like, 'no way, not that fast.'"

However, Watkins said he brushed the dirt off the ring and soon positively identified it as his mother-in-law's long-lost keepsake.

"He put his fingers in his pocket, and brought out the ring, I almost had a seizure and I was crying," Black said of when Watkins gave her the ring back