It is not uncommon for the average person in society to use the phrase “finders keepers, losers weepers.” For librarian Ms. Linda Rodriguez, however, this notion didn’t apply to her finding of a class ring from 1993, which was turned in to our school’s lost and found this school year. Rodriguez found a sapphire and snowboard engraved ring when recently looking through our school’s lost and found items, which were turned in to the libary.

When Rodriguez examined the ring, she discovered engravings on its inside and outside identifying it as belonging to Tim Vanni. She walks us through the process of locating the owner. “I looked through the yearbooks and googled him. I found that he had a house in Simi Valley and called his phone, but it was out of service. I searched his name up on Facebook and messaged him, and got a message back.”

The snowboard engraved on the ring, as well as a sapphire gem for his birth month, proved to Vanni that it was definitely his ring, and he was “floored” that it was found. Vanni let Rodriguez know that this ring has been lost for 29 years, and how he lost it. According to Vanni, “I lost it after graduation. I believe I lent it to someone to wear and I never saw it again.” Vanni currently resides in Colorado and is relying on his good friend Mike Provenzano [who works for the SVUSD] to retrieve the ring for him.

Vanni took this story to his own Facebook page writing of the obscurity of this finding. Many of Vanni’s friends commented on how strange it is for a library to keep such old artifacts, but our librarians commented that at the end of every year they give the findings from the lost in found to the district to donate. Several times, Vanni expressed his joy to Rodriguez and is excited to share this ring with his children. It is truly peculiar that this ring was uncovered almost 30 years later.

Vanni stated in his post that, “There are still good people out there that care, and we should be thankful for them.” Some stories actually have good endings, and we may learn from Rodriguez to always return objects to their rightful owners.