1969 Cathedral Grad Reunited With Class Ring After 52 Years

Imagine losing something so sentimental and precious to you, only to have it returned decades later. It sounds like a story that's too good to be true!

Theron Busse is a central Minnesota resident and self-proclaimed avid metal detectorist. He spends his free time hunting for treasures in the water. He doesn't do it for himself. He says he does it because "I love to save history and to return lost items to people if I can."

Busse was searching for lost treasures at Avon Beach over the summer and stumbled across a Cathedral High School class ring from 1969.

He's spent the last few months trying to track down the owner. He reached out to Cathedral High School but they weren't able to help him in his search.

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"I decided to post on Old St. Cloud Minnesota Facebook page to see if I could find the owner," said Busse.

All Busse knew was that the owner of the ring graduated in 1969, had their initials on it, and lost it at Avon Beach,

A woman named Margaret Ganz Putnam reached out to Busse and said that she believed she knew who owned the ring.

'Margaret used to chair the reunions for Cathedral, so she was the perfect person to help me," said Busse.

The ring belonged to Kathy "Snooky" Curson. Her initials were a match to the ones on the side of the ring. Busse and Curson decided to meet up at the White Horse in St. Cloud.

After spending 52 years in the water, the ring was finally reunited with its owner. And, after months of searching for Curson, Busse was finally able to get the full story.

Curson had lent the ring to a friend of hers who loved it for the emerald stone. That same friend, "lost it without knowing it. She thought she lost it in the Quarries," said Busse.

He went on to say, "most of the time rings come outworn and you can tell they were heavily used. This one looked brand new!" And, that's because it almost was.

Curson's ring went missing just a few short months after she received it, the summer of 1969. Her friend must have felt terrible about it.

So, Curson reached out to her friend and let her know that the ring had been returned. It's a very happy ending to a once devastating story.