Woman reunited with class ring thanks to good Samaritan, principal's detective work

WILMINGTON, Delaware (WPVI) -- A class ring from 1965 made its way home to a Delaware woman thanks to a New Castle principal and a good Samaritan.

Kim Shank found it while shopping at the Prices Corner Shopping Center in Wilmington back in January.

"It was sitting right there on the ground," Shank recalls. "I was getting into my car and I picked it up. When I got home I thought, 'If someone is wearing it from a class from the 60s, it has to be very important to them.'"

On Wednesday, Shank finally returned it to its owner, Joanna Gore.

Here's what cracked the case: the William Penn High School class ring is stamped 1965. Inside are three initials: "JMS." They stand for Joanna Marie Siekierda.

Principal Lisa Brewington went through old yearbooks until she found the one graduate with those initials and then tracked her down.

But there's a plot twist. Gore gave the ring to her 17-year-old granddaughter. It turns out the teen lost it at the shopping center, looked everywhere for it, and never told her grandmother it was missing.

She found out when she got the call from Principal Brewington.

"I asked Mrs. Gore if she had lost it, and then she told me the story about her granddaughter," Brewington says. "I told her, 'I think your granddaughter lost the ring.' I then called Kim and said, 'I found somebody!'"

Gore is overwhelmed with gratitude.

"In this day and age, I don't think that many people would turn it in," Gore says. "I think they would either keep it or sell it. Kim has a good heart."

The good news is the granddaughter is now off the hook.

Gore will also have a great story to tell at the next reunion.