I'm up in Louisville now, but am originally from East Kentucky, Magoffin County. My MCHS high school ring was lost the day my girlfriend (now wife) was trying to return it to me back in 2004! I picked her up and we drove from East KY to Louisville and when she went to hand me my ring from her purse in her dorm room, it was gone! She took it out of her grandmother's jewelry box, put it in her purse, got in my car, we stopped at a gas station in Frankfort, then went to her dorm... It was lost somewhere between those places, and definitely not in the car (I even took the car seats out while searching). Unfortunately, I KNOW that detecting on the campus will not be possible, and we called / went to the gas station, but my ring is nowhere to be found.
I tell that story only to say that I would be THRILLED if someone actually returned my ring to me. It's not that I would wear it around, but it's something I would love to pass down to my children. Good on you for doing the right thing, and I wish you luck!