Early Mother’s Day Miracle for West Milton Resident/Editor

Sometimes the kindness of strangers can take you by surprise. And sometimes sheer luck can just about knock you off your feet.

When I was in high school (Stephen T. Badin in Hamilton, OH), my parents could not afford to buy me a class ring. One day my mother took me aside and asked if I would wear her class ring as a replacement. I was honored that she would pass such an item on to me and found that it meant much more than if they would have purchased me one of my own.

I wore the ring all the time, taking it everywhere with me. I moved to Covington, OH in 1994 and often came to West Milton to visit my brother Tim and his family when they lived in their first house on Park Street. A few times my then sister-in-law and I would take her son to Lowry Complex and walk on the track to talk and get in a little exercise.

I don’t remember the exact day, but one time I was playing with the ring as we walked, taking it off and rolling it around in my hands. Between talking, walking and taking care of the baby, I somehow lost the ring on/near the track. I returned to Lowry several times searching for the ring to no avail. Needless to say, I was devastated and never quite forgave myself for losing such a precious gift. When my mother passed away in late 2000, the wound from losing the ring opened up again and I wished more than anything that I could get that piece of her history back.

On Friday, April 30, 2010 I received a call from my uncle in New York. He and my grandfather still live in the house that my mom grew up in, in Garnerville, about an hour from New York City. He said he had received a call from a man named Bill O’Neil, who was heading the reunion committee for the Albertus Magnus High School Class of 1965. As you have probably just realized, my mom graduated from that school in that year. He told my uncle that someone in Ohio had found my mother’s class ring and they wanted to return it to family since they knew she had passed away 9 ½ years ago. My uncle was confused but promised to get in touch with me and give me the email information for Mr. O’Neil.

I should mention the only way they knew this was my mom’s ring was by the initials engraved on the inside of the ring, MAP. They stand for Mari-Alice Paterson and luckily no one else in her class shared the same initials. If those letters had not been put on the inside of the ring, chances are they would not have figured out it was hers.

When my uncle called me on April 30^th, I was, as you can imagine, taken completely by surprise. I was so excited that my two youngest sons kept asking me what was going on. I took Mr. O’Neil’s contact information and sent him an email the next morning giving him my information and asking him to pass it along to the gentleman in Ohio with the ring. At this time I still did not know that the ring was in West Milton. Over the years I had forgotten where it had been lost.

Mr. O’Neil answered my email promptly and told me he would pass my information to the man in Ohio that had the ring. His name was Mr. Kenneth Beard. Mr. Beard proceeded to call me on Sunday, May 2. He told me he lived in West Milton, just 2 streets away and was the track coach for Milton-Union for 32 years. It was then the I remembered where I had lost the ring, approximately, 14-16 years ago. Mr. Beard said someone raking the long jump at the track found the ring and tried to look up the high school online and then he took it and began the search. He located Albertus Magnus High School online and contacted Mr. O’Neil once he saw the information for the Class of 1965 reunion.

Once they figured out that the ring belonged to my mother, by the initials, they began the search to find relatives while trying to understand how the ring ended up in Ohio. Mr. Beard went through track records to see if anyone with my mother’s married name, McDermott, had ever been involved with the Milton-Union long jump. This process took the better part of a week. Finally, Mr. O’Neil was able to find a phone number for the house on Jones Drive in Garnerville, NY and left a message for my uncle. Thus, the circle was complete and the ring found its way back home.

I posted this information on my personal Facebook account as it was happening. On Sunday, May 2^nd Kenton Dickison, an 8^th grader at Milton-Union Middle School and a good friend of the family, commented on my post to tell me it was he who found the ring while raking. He stayed up until 2am trying to figure out who it could belong to. It’s nice to know even the younger generation cares enough to go to the effort of returning a ring to its rightful owner.

I was able to take a picture with Mr. Beard when he dropped the ring off and thanked him many, many times. He told me the smile on my face made it all worth it, but I doubt I will ever be able to repay what he has done for me and my family, as I plan to pass the ring down to one of my children in the future. I still cannot believe the ring survived 14 or more Ohio winters and did not suffer any damage. The timing was perfect as well since I received the ring just 5 days before the first anniversary of my father’s passing (May 7^th) and one week before Mother’s Day. What a true comfort to be able to wear the ring again on May 7^th and Mother’s Day 2010.

I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Kenton Dickison, Kenneth Beard, Bill O’Neil and my Uncle Brit Paterson for taking the time to research the ring’s history and caring enough to not stop looking until they got it back into my hands. If anyone else was involved in this process, I thank them too from the bottom of my heart. May God bless them today and everyday for their kindness and selflessness.

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