By Lucky Kidd
McPHERSON, Kan. — A McPherson man has his high school class ring back, some 40 years after he lost it.
Scott Kennedy, a 1978 graduate of McPherson High School, lost his ring in the 1980’s when he was working at a ski resort in Brighton, Utah. That ring eventually made its way to a couple in southern Utah, and Tuesday the process of reuniting the ring with its owner began.
Kennedy told Ad Astra News how he lost the ring. “I was going up the lift and I pulled off my glove, and my ring got caught in the glove and it somehow fell off.” He was 40 feet above ground at the time, and while he did try to look for it, he thought the ring was gone forever.
Enter Marjorie Johnson of Pintura, Utah. She said she doesn’t know exactly how the ring was found, but believes her son found it while skiing at Brighton and brought it home where it was put in a jewelry box.
Marjorie, who is in her 80’s, said she and her husband are in the process of downsizing, and as they were going through jewelry, he began wearing the ring. It was after she took a closer look at the ring, which had the initials SAK, she wanted to get it back to its rightful owner.
“I was so hoping to find the owner, because things like that are precious to you when you get them,” she told Ad Astra News, adding, “At this time in his life, this would mean more to him than if he’d had it the whole time.
That eventually led her to search for things in McPherson, and in the process, she came across the name of Ad Astra Radio’s senior news and public affairs director Lucky Kidd, who graduated from MHS a year after Kennedy. A message was posted on Ad Astra Radio’s social media in an effort to locate the owner.
Kennedy said he received a message from classmate Susan (Nigh) Keller, which led him to contacting the radio station, who then connected him with Johnson. The ring is being sent back to Kennedy, and he expects to have it back after some 40 years in a few days.
