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Here's a copy and paste of a great story in a local paper.
SHENANDOAH ? He was swimming at the former Sandy Beach.
And then it disappeared.
Michael A. Burns lost his white gold wedding band somewhere in the depths of the water off Ringtown Boulevard, Shenandoah Heights, on a warm day in July 1981.
And Burns never thought he would see it again.
"You know how your hands get in the water?" Burns said, recalling his loss. "They shriv?el up. And it (the ring) just came off."
What made the mishap so memorable was the fact that he and his wife, Patricia A. Waiksnoris-Burns, were new?lyweds of two months.
For 23 years, the ring was gone.
And then, as unexpectedly as it had vanished, it reap?peared.
One day in April, the cou?ple received a phone call from a Ringtown man with a curious hobby.
Harold A. Shoup, a bus driver for the North Schuylkill School District, has been trea?sure hunting with his metal detector since 1991.
"It's something every kid dreams about in their life at one time or another, going out and finding buried treasure," Shoup said. "Besides, it's good exercise."
Shoup scours the land with his trusty White's Electronics-brand detector, which has a digital counter and a sensor which beeps. Sometimes he wears earphones which con?nect to the unit.
"They block out the background noise," he said.
And he brings along a gar?den trowel, just in case he has to dig.
"I already found dimes that were eight inches under?ground," he said.
Shoup has accumulated a collection of coins, rings and oddities trekking around not only his backyard, but fields in Union Township and the former Sandy Beach.
The beach, which is owned by Shenandoah's municipal authority, has been closed for over a decade due to a busi?ness slump in the 1990s.
But the sand is still there. These days, it's dotted with pools of rainwater.
Shoup keeps a diary of his adventures with the detector and, according to his notes, he found Burns' ring there March 15, 2002.
"I went back to Sandy Beach. I found $1.86 in spendable change and a wedding band, 14-karat white gold," Shoup's diary reads.
At the time, he just added it to his collection of finds.
"It got put aside, just like all these other things," Shoup said. "It got put in a box. I had intentions of trying to find the owner, but one thing led to another and it just got forgotten."
But recently, as he looked over his collection, Shoup gave the ring a second look.
It had an engraving on the inside: "From P.A.W. to M.A.B."
It was a decent clue.
And it encouraged him to take out a newspaper advertisement. He also scoured through the phone book.
"He took the trouble of going through the phone book looking under the initials," Burns said.
Four days and hundreds of names later, Shoup picked up the phone to track down the ring's owner.
And believe it or not, Burns' was the first number he called.
"Did you lose a ring?" Shoup asked.
"Yeah. About 20 years ago," Burns said.
"I think I have it," Shoup said. "There's an inscription on the inside. Can you tell me what it says?"
Burns, who is about to cel?ebrate his 23rd wedding anniversary, knew the right answer.
"I have your ring," Shoup said.
Burns shouted, "Get outta here!"
He was at Shoup's doorstep within the hour.
"And then he wouldn't even take anything for it," Burns said.
"He couldn't believe he was holding the ring again," Shoup said. "He tried to give me a reward. I told him the smile on his face was reward enough."
There's another ring in Shoup's collection that was lost and may also have an owner out there somewhere.
It's a 14-karat gold man's ring signifying the Shenando?ah High School Class of 1943. Inside it are the initials "H.C.L."
"When I cleaned the mud, the top fell off of it," Shoup said.
The top, which Shoup saved, is a crest with the words "Shenandoah High School 1879."
Shoup was unable to find a yearbook from that year, but someone from the class may have an idea.
It'd be great if the owner and the ring were reunited, Shoup said, especially since the biggest class reunion in the school's history, the "Su?per Cooper," is being held Aug. 14 at the Lakeside Ballroom, Barnesville.
SHENANDOAH ? He was swimming at the former Sandy Beach.
And then it disappeared.
Michael A. Burns lost his white gold wedding band somewhere in the depths of the water off Ringtown Boulevard, Shenandoah Heights, on a warm day in July 1981.
And Burns never thought he would see it again.
"You know how your hands get in the water?" Burns said, recalling his loss. "They shriv?el up. And it (the ring) just came off."
What made the mishap so memorable was the fact that he and his wife, Patricia A. Waiksnoris-Burns, were new?lyweds of two months.
For 23 years, the ring was gone.
And then, as unexpectedly as it had vanished, it reap?peared.
One day in April, the cou?ple received a phone call from a Ringtown man with a curious hobby.
Harold A. Shoup, a bus driver for the North Schuylkill School District, has been trea?sure hunting with his metal detector since 1991.
"It's something every kid dreams about in their life at one time or another, going out and finding buried treasure," Shoup said. "Besides, it's good exercise."
Shoup scours the land with his trusty White's Electronics-brand detector, which has a digital counter and a sensor which beeps. Sometimes he wears earphones which con?nect to the unit.
"They block out the background noise," he said.
And he brings along a gar?den trowel, just in case he has to dig.
"I already found dimes that were eight inches under?ground," he said.
Shoup has accumulated a collection of coins, rings and oddities trekking around not only his backyard, but fields in Union Township and the former Sandy Beach.
The beach, which is owned by Shenandoah's municipal authority, has been closed for over a decade due to a busi?ness slump in the 1990s.
But the sand is still there. These days, it's dotted with pools of rainwater.
Shoup keeps a diary of his adventures with the detector and, according to his notes, he found Burns' ring there March 15, 2002.
"I went back to Sandy Beach. I found $1.86 in spendable change and a wedding band, 14-karat white gold," Shoup's diary reads.
At the time, he just added it to his collection of finds.
"It got put aside, just like all these other things," Shoup said. "It got put in a box. I had intentions of trying to find the owner, but one thing led to another and it just got forgotten."
But recently, as he looked over his collection, Shoup gave the ring a second look.
It had an engraving on the inside: "From P.A.W. to M.A.B."
It was a decent clue.
And it encouraged him to take out a newspaper advertisement. He also scoured through the phone book.
"He took the trouble of going through the phone book looking under the initials," Burns said.
Four days and hundreds of names later, Shoup picked up the phone to track down the ring's owner.
And believe it or not, Burns' was the first number he called.
"Did you lose a ring?" Shoup asked.
"Yeah. About 20 years ago," Burns said.
"I think I have it," Shoup said. "There's an inscription on the inside. Can you tell me what it says?"
Burns, who is about to cel?ebrate his 23rd wedding anniversary, knew the right answer.
"I have your ring," Shoup said.
Burns shouted, "Get outta here!"
He was at Shoup's doorstep within the hour.
"And then he wouldn't even take anything for it," Burns said.
"He couldn't believe he was holding the ring again," Shoup said. "He tried to give me a reward. I told him the smile on his face was reward enough."
There's another ring in Shoup's collection that was lost and may also have an owner out there somewhere.
It's a 14-karat gold man's ring signifying the Shenando?ah High School Class of 1943. Inside it are the initials "H.C.L."
"When I cleaned the mud, the top fell off of it," Shoup said.
The top, which Shoup saved, is a crest with the words "Shenandoah High School 1879."
Shoup was unable to find a yearbook from that year, but someone from the class may have an idea.
It'd be great if the owner and the ring were reunited, Shoup said, especially since the biggest class reunion in the school's history, the "Su?per Cooper," is being held Aug. 14 at the Lakeside Ballroom, Barnesville.
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