GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio (WCMH) — Just after graduating from Grandview Heights High School in 1975, Mary Melfi lost her class ring off the coast of a Maryland beach. After nearly 50 years, a stranger went above and beyond to reunite them.
“It’s funny, I’m wearing my class ring, and I’m going to be 68,” Mary said. “A friend of mine the other day said, ‘So why do you have your class ring on?’ And I said, ‘Oh, you don’t know the story?’ because it just gives me an avenue to tell my story, because it is so remarkable.”
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Mary and her husband, fellow Grandview Heights graduate Larry Melfi, said they began getting Facebook messages last year about the ring. The couple said they have Shawn Tippett to thank — just three days into owning a metal detector, he uncovered the ring buried nearly one foot in the sand.
With a large gemstone and a once-white gold band, Tippett could have pawned or kept the jewelry. Instead, noting the Grandview Heights 1975 engraving and a pair of initials, Tippett set out to reunite the ring with its rightful owner. He tracked down a yearbook and searched for a match to the “MVM” initials on the inner band, finding just one candidate: Mary Virginia Masse, Mary’s maiden name.
The ring was lost on a trip with her high school boyfriend, Tony, who the Melfis contacted after learning about Tippett’s discovery. In the summer of 1975, Mary and Tony exchanged class rings at the beach. Tony put Mary’s in his pocket and soon realized he’d lost it in the ocean…