Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville Times belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville Times, its staff or publishers)

I got a message on Facebook last week that was quite odd. Here it is: “Sometime in the early 80’s (84-85) I was living at 901 Mass. Avenue in Cambridge. In front of the building there was a bit of a green space with bushes. I was raking them out a bit for the landlord to get rid of some of the trash when I found the ring. I wanted to find the owner but back in those days searching for someone was more of a challenge. I put the ring in a box of ‘stuff’ in my office and there it has sat through several moves in Cambridge. Every once in awhile I’d think about the ring and how it ended up in the bushes. I thought perhaps a lovers’ quarrel where the ring was tossed or perhaps on a cold day it slipped off. Recently I came across the ring again and I thought, ‘I’ve got to find the owner of this ring!’ My daughter tweeted about it and it was picked up by the City of Somerville and Somerville High School but still no response. Through the power of the Internet I found your name by typing “Somerville High 1971” and discovered you were writing a column and just happened to graduate that year. I’d love to find the owner of the ring and return it to him or to his family. Thanks for the help!”

I responded that I would start to help her look for the owner of the ring. The first person I thought of was my friend Rich S., but he said the ring wasn’t his. He had the correct middle initial but alas, the wrong name. He told me it could be a late member of our class also with the initials RS. I found our former classmate’s wife who told me his middle initial was not what we were looking for, and that her son now had the ring.

My next move was to look through the 1971 Somerville High School yearbook for a male with the initials RS. Good thing I had borrowed a copy of the yearbook last month and still had it. All together there were seven male classmates who were in the 1971 yearbook with the initials RS. I thought of another late former classmate with the initials RS. I spoke to his sister who was a friend of mine. She told me that his middle initial was W. Also wrong! AARRGGH! I had to cross his name off my list.

I then found another RS from my class on Facebook and sent him a message describing my dilemma. I just heard back from him this morning. He said he hasn’t seen his class ring in years but that his middle initial was E. That’s one more name eliminated. I started out with seven classmates with the initial RS, and now I am down to three. Of the remaining three, one has a very common last name, one has a very UN-common last name and the other has a nice, not too uncommon Italian surname.

So now I am basically at an impasse. I have hit a brick wall. I Googled the last remaining three classmates names and came up with nothing. I really don’t want to print these guys’ names because it will breach their privacy. So all I can do is keep my “lost ring” post updated on Facebook, and possibly place a lost and found ad on Craig’s list. Last but not least, I hope that the owner of the lost ring or a family member may see this story. All they have to do is prove that they graduated from Somerville High School in 1971, and that their initials are RS with the correct middle initial. I feel like a detective! But wouldn’t it be great to reunite the owner with his long lost ring? I never got a class ring or a yearbook for that matter. My mother gave me her 1944 Somerville High School class ring that I proceeded to lose about 30 years ago. It may be somewhere in that messy pit that I call my room.

I must also mention how nice the person is that found the ring. She could have just sold it, or kept it, or done nothing at all. She must be a very decent person.

By all means, if anyone knows of a 60-ish 1971 Somerville High School man with the initials RS, please give him my email address. I will continue to look for the owner and keep you in the loop. You can always give me a “ring” at The Somerville Times office!