FENNVILLE, Mich. — Nothing in life is certain except for death and taxes, right?
One more certainty needs to be added to the list - things that are lost will be found when they want to be found.
On Saturday, May 4, a family from Fennville, Mi. was enjoying taking batting practice at the Fennville High School softball field when they made a score at home, but it wasn't a run.
"My wife, [Elaine], looked down near home plate and saw something shiny that she thought was probably just a washer," said Rick Alvesteffer, who was tossing baseballs to his sons to hit. "She bent down and kind of dug it out of the ground and right away I realized it was a class ring."
It was a woman's class ring, dated 1934, and had the letters, with the letters 'SHHS' on it.
After their practice, the Alvesteffers went home and Elaine immediately cleaned the ring and began trying to search for its owner, Rick said. She took pictures of the ring and posted them to several social media sites, hoping they would help reconnect the ring to who lost it.
"We assumed [the letters] SHHS meant South Haven High School," Rick said. "So Elaine called South Haven High School, the Fennville [High School] principal, athletic director and the Fennville Community Recreation Director because there's a lot of teams that play on that ball field."
The social posts Elaine made generated a bunch of comments and interest from citizen sleuths, but no results, Rick said. The phone calls, too, have yet to produce somebody coming forward claiming the ring belonged to them.
"The initials of M.G.R. are engraved inside the ring, "Rick said. "Elaine decided to go to the South Haven Library to see if they might have a way to look up South Haven's class of 1934."
Rick added that his wife did identify a woman with the initials M.G.R. who had graduated from South Haven in 1934, but would later find that the individual passed away in 2016. The Alvesteffer's were not able to confirm whether or not the individual with those initials was in fact the original owner, and that's where their personal investigation has stalled, Rick says.
Rick and Elaine are hoping somebody will recognize the ring and help get it back to the person who lost it.
"It's a family heirloom," Rick said. "[I believe] someone generations on down was wearing it while playing softball and it fell off.
"I have no idea how long it was buried in the batter's box; we just hope to find someone who maybe knew the person or knew someone."
If you might know who the ring belongs to, you're asked to contact Fennville High School Athletic Department. Someone there will then contact the Alvesteffers.
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