Rubicon
Sr. Member
Man gets back lost school ring -- after 50 years
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
[email protected]
J. ALBERT DIAZ / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Western High teachers Jorge Balmori, left, and Dennis Rodrigues with ring that Balmori found when he was treasure hunting while diving off Key Biscayne. The ring is from the 1952 class of Georgia Institute of Technology. Rodrigues found the owner and they are returning the ring to him.Growing up in Miami, David Perry enjoyed many outtings to Crandon Beach.
But it was there, 50 years ago, he lost something precious to him.
It was on a summer day in 1957, during his first water skiing lesson, that his gold college ring from Georgia Tech's Class of 1952 slipped off his finger and disappeared into the murky water.
''I treasured it,'' he said. ``But I figured, it was gone.''
But on Wednesday, after more than five decades and a lifetime of experiences, the Miami High grad got a phone call at his Seattle-area home.
A Davie teacher found his ring -- buried underneath a foot of sand on the ocean floor, not far from the Key Biscayne coast.
''I just can't believe it,'' said Perry, a retired Naval Reserve captain and aerospace engineering manager, who is now 77. ``After so long, it was so unexpected.''
The man behind the reunion of the ring with its owner is Jorge Balmori, 54, a world geography teacher at Western High in Davie.
For the past eight years, Balmori and his two sons have spent many weekends swimming near Key Biscayne, searching for underwater treasures with a metal detector.
On Sunday, they got lucky about 100 feet off shore.
As their device started beeping, Balmori and his 20-year-old son, Jorge Jr., started digging. Tucked under the sand, more than a foot below the ocean floor, was a shiny, gold ring with a large red stone.
Though Balmori had found missing pieces of jewelry before, usually the rings, bracelets and necklaces offer no traces of who they once belonged to.
But this ring was different. Not only did it bear the college logo and the graduation year, it also showed the letters of Sigma Chi fraternity.
The most revealing clue, however, was a name engraved inside the ring: D.L. Perry.
Balmori made it his mission to return the ring to its owner, whoever -- and wherever -- that person was.
As soon as he returned to his Davie home, he logged onto the Internet and searched ''D.L. Perry.'' Millions of matched popped up.
Admittedly not the most tech-savvy person, Balmori turned to his colleague, Dennis Rodrigues, another world geography teacher at the school, for help.
Rodrigues, 45, called Georgia Tech to see if they had any record of D.L. Perry, a 1952 grad.
But when the school didn't return his call, Rodrigues contacted the headquarters of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Someone in the fraternity's archives tracked Perry to Maple Valley, a city near Seattle.
''We were so excited, hoping that the ring brings him a lot of fond memories,'' Balmori said.
When the fraternity representative called Perry Wednesday, he was at the grocery store so his wife took the message.
When Perry returned home, he knew his wife had something to tell him.
''She showed me all these notes she had scribbled and told me someone had found my ring,'' he said. He called Balmori and Rodrigues and the three shared in their excitement.
They also shared stories about their lives, their families and their experiences.
Perry told them that the ring meant so much to him, that his ex-wife bought him a replacement. He still wears it, though it is worn with scratches and other signs of its age.
The old one, however, was well-preserved, and looks almost new.
Now, as Perry awaits the arrival of his ring in the mail, he hopes to soon meet his two new friends.
''To think that they would take the time to try and track me down, it really is incredible,'' he said. ``It's simply heartwarming.''
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008Digg del.icio.us AIM reprint print email
BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
[email protected]
J. ALBERT DIAZ / MIAMI HERALD STAFF
Western High teachers Jorge Balmori, left, and Dennis Rodrigues with ring that Balmori found when he was treasure hunting while diving off Key Biscayne. The ring is from the 1952 class of Georgia Institute of Technology. Rodrigues found the owner and they are returning the ring to him.Growing up in Miami, David Perry enjoyed many outtings to Crandon Beach.
But it was there, 50 years ago, he lost something precious to him.
It was on a summer day in 1957, during his first water skiing lesson, that his gold college ring from Georgia Tech's Class of 1952 slipped off his finger and disappeared into the murky water.
''I treasured it,'' he said. ``But I figured, it was gone.''
But on Wednesday, after more than five decades and a lifetime of experiences, the Miami High grad got a phone call at his Seattle-area home.
A Davie teacher found his ring -- buried underneath a foot of sand on the ocean floor, not far from the Key Biscayne coast.
''I just can't believe it,'' said Perry, a retired Naval Reserve captain and aerospace engineering manager, who is now 77. ``After so long, it was so unexpected.''
The man behind the reunion of the ring with its owner is Jorge Balmori, 54, a world geography teacher at Western High in Davie.
For the past eight years, Balmori and his two sons have spent many weekends swimming near Key Biscayne, searching for underwater treasures with a metal detector.
On Sunday, they got lucky about 100 feet off shore.
As their device started beeping, Balmori and his 20-year-old son, Jorge Jr., started digging. Tucked under the sand, more than a foot below the ocean floor, was a shiny, gold ring with a large red stone.
Though Balmori had found missing pieces of jewelry before, usually the rings, bracelets and necklaces offer no traces of who they once belonged to.
But this ring was different. Not only did it bear the college logo and the graduation year, it also showed the letters of Sigma Chi fraternity.
The most revealing clue, however, was a name engraved inside the ring: D.L. Perry.
Balmori made it his mission to return the ring to its owner, whoever -- and wherever -- that person was.
As soon as he returned to his Davie home, he logged onto the Internet and searched ''D.L. Perry.'' Millions of matched popped up.
Admittedly not the most tech-savvy person, Balmori turned to his colleague, Dennis Rodrigues, another world geography teacher at the school, for help.
Rodrigues, 45, called Georgia Tech to see if they had any record of D.L. Perry, a 1952 grad.
But when the school didn't return his call, Rodrigues contacted the headquarters of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Someone in the fraternity's archives tracked Perry to Maple Valley, a city near Seattle.
''We were so excited, hoping that the ring brings him a lot of fond memories,'' Balmori said.
When the fraternity representative called Perry Wednesday, he was at the grocery store so his wife took the message.
When Perry returned home, he knew his wife had something to tell him.
''She showed me all these notes she had scribbled and told me someone had found my ring,'' he said. He called Balmori and Rodrigues and the three shared in their excitement.
They also shared stories about their lives, their families and their experiences.
Perry told them that the ring meant so much to him, that his ex-wife bought him a replacement. He still wears it, though it is worn with scratches and other signs of its age.
The old one, however, was well-preserved, and looks almost new.
Now, as Perry awaits the arrival of his ring in the mail, he hopes to soon meet his two new friends.
''To think that they would take the time to try and track me down, it really is incredible,'' he said. ``It's simply heartwarming.''
