Woman Returns Lost Lackawanna School Class Ring After 63 Years

A lost class ring has found it's way back home after more than 60 years.

Mary Jo Orzeck, of Brockport, New York, was cleaning out her parents' home when she found the class ring. It was from the Lackawanna High School class of 1955 and bared the initials ELD.

Rather than toss it aside and forget about it, like most people would, or take it to a pawn shop, Mary Jo began to look for the rightful owner. She started her search at the library. However, it was closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Mary Jo found the Lackawanna High School librarian, Susan Palumbo and together they went through the 1955 yearbook to see if they could discover any student with the initials ELD. That's when they found Eugene Darmstadter.

Eugene, who is in his 80s, still lives in Lackawanna. He tells WGRZ, he thought he lost the ring at a softball game in 1958 and has no idea how it ended up at Mary Jo's house.

In the 1950s, Eugene was a Lackawanna firefighter at a station house near a tavern owned by Mary Jo's father and uncles, according to WGRZ. It was a popular place for firefighters to unwind after a busy shift.

Talk about a small world.

Mary Jo met Eugene and his family outside the Lackawanna high school to return the ring after so many years. "I graduated again," Darmstadter joked after putting it back on his finger. And it still fit!

Orzeck shared she was just "happy to return this ring to Mr. Darmstedter and meet his family."