Robin Polston lost a gold baby ring 42 years ago in the window sill of the house where she grew up. The ring was a birthday gift from her mother. Imagine their surprise when the ring is found ... slightly tarnished, but still in good shape.
"She was crying when she called, and I thought something was wrong. But it was a good thing," Polston said of her mother Vicki Mason, and the conversation they held on the telephone. "I had forgotten about the ring over time, and was really surprised that she not only remembered that I had lost it, but also to tell someone else about it."
In 1968, while living at 515 S. Missouri St., Polston was 2 years old and had received for her birthday a gold baby's ring with the initial "R" engraved on the top. Like most children that age, her mother was worried that Polston would lose the ring outside, so she was careful not to let her daughter wear it very often.
After Polston had the ring about 2-3 months, she and her brother, Randy, went to their mother one afternoon and told her the ring had slipped down a very narrow space in a window sill. There was no way to retrieve it, short of dismantling the entire picture window.
"I was sad and mad at the same time," Mason recalled.
Years passed, and the Polston family moved, and the home was sold several times to others. But Mason never forgot about the ring, and in hopes of retrieving it, she mentioned it to the new owners, hoping one day, the ring would be found.
"Over time, I more or less gave up on ever getting the ring back," she said.
One of the neighbors during the years the Masons lived on Missouri Street was Phillip Dillard, who continued for many years to own the house next door, until he rented it out a few years back and moved across town to Clark Street. "Sonny" as everyone knows him had been told the story about the ring, and about a year ago was reminded of it during a conversation about the old neighborhood.
So when Warren Norwald – the current owner of the Mason's old Missouri Street homestead – recently started remodeling the house, Dillard shared the ring story with him, and told him if the ring turned up when the window was replaced, he knew a lady who would love to have it back.
"At first they told me they couldn't see anything that looked like a ring," Mason recalled. But lo and behold, "it was there, badly tarnished after 42 years, lying deep within the window sill."
Moisture over time had taken its toll on the tiny ring, but Melody's Jewelry in Mexico was able to restore it to its original look. "It's amazing," Mason told The Ledger last week.
Polston, who now has three grown daughters of her own, isn't certain what she plans to do with the keepsake. In fact, she's a little hesitant to let it out of her sight.
"I don't want to lose it again," she said. "I've thought about getting a chain and occasionally wearing it, or passing it along to my kids."
Mason, being very spiritual in nature, believes the discovery of the ring has a much deeper meaning than luck. In the last year, her family has experienced tragedies, with the death of four family members, both young and old. Having the ring returned, she said, was a "ray of sunshine."
"Death can weigh pretty heavy on you; for some moreso than others," Mason said. The evening the ring was delivered to her home, Mason had just returned from a grief support meeting, with fellow members who have suffered losses of family, friends or both. Seeing the ring, filled her with "joy and excitement."
For Mason, the moral of this very special story is: "Things are sometimes hidden from us for a season. But if we keep the faith and never give up, we will have things, relationships, loved ones restored to us, in God's time, and in his way."
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Robin Polston lost a gold baby ring 42 years ago in the window sill of the house where she grew up. The ring was a birthday gift from her mother. Imagine their surprise when the ring is found ... slightly tarnished, but still in good shape.
"She was crying when she called, and I thought something was wrong. But it was a good thing," Polston said of her mother Vicki Mason, and the conversation they held on the telephone. "I had forgotten about the ring over time, and was really surprised that she not only remembered that I had lost it, but also to tell someone else about it."
In 1968, while living at 515 S. Missouri St., Polston was 2 years old and had received for her birthday a gold baby's ring with the initial "R" engraved on the top. Like most children that age, her mother was worried that Polston would lose the ring outside, so she was careful not to let her daughter wear it very often.
After Polston had the ring about 2-3 months, she and her brother, Randy, went to their mother one afternoon and told her the ring had slipped down a very narrow space in a window sill. There was no way to retrieve it, short of dismantling the entire picture window.
"I was sad and mad at the same time," Mason recalled.
Years passed, and the Polston family moved, and the home was sold several times to others. But Mason never forgot about the ring, and in hopes of retrieving it, she mentioned it to the new owners, hoping one day, the ring would be found.
"Over time, I more or less gave up on ever getting the ring back," she said.
One of the neighbors during the years the Masons lived on Missouri Street was Phillip Dillard, who continued for many years to own the house next door, until he rented it out a few years back and moved across town to Clark Street. "Sonny" as everyone knows him had been told the story about the ring, and about a year ago was reminded of it during a conversation about the old neighborhood.
So when Warren Norwald – the current owner of the Mason's old Missouri Street homestead – recently started remodeling the house, Dillard shared the ring story with him, and told him if the ring turned up when the window was replaced, he knew a lady who would love to have it back.
"At first they told me they couldn't see anything that looked like a ring," Mason recalled. But lo and behold, "it was there, badly tarnished after 42 years, lying deep within the window sill."
Moisture over time had taken its toll on the tiny ring, but Melody's Jewelry in Mexico was able to restore it to its original look. "It's amazing," Mason told The Ledger last week.
Polston, who now has three grown daughters of her own, isn't certain what she plans to do with the keepsake. In fact, she's a little hesitant to let it out of her sight.
"I don't want to lose it again," she said. "I've thought about getting a chain and occasionally wearing it, or passing it along to my kids."
Mason, being very spiritual in nature, believes the discovery of the ring has a much deeper meaning than luck. In the last year, her family has experienced tragedies, with the death of four family members, both young and old. Having the ring returned, she said, was a "ray of sunshine."
"Death can weigh pretty heavy on you; for some moreso than others," Mason said. The evening the ring was delivered to her home, Mason had just returned from a grief support meeting, with fellow members who have suffered losses of family, friends or both. Seeing the ring, filled her with "joy and excitement."
For Mason, the moral of this very special story is: "Things are sometimes hidden from us for a season. But if we keep the faith and never give up, we will have things, relationships, loved ones restored to us, in God's time, and in his way."
