CRESTVIEW—A missing ring has found its way home after two decades.
Jean Todd, a Crestview resident, found a football class ring while working at an area gas station in 1998. Finding the ring’s proper owner has been a personal quest for her ever since.
Todd found Scott Walls, the ring’s owner, after reaching out to the News Bulletin last week.
“I’d given up on that ring two decades ago,” Walls said in a phone interview.
He recalled the day his ring went missing while returning to DeQueen, Arkansas from a Florida road trip with friends.
“We stopped at this gas station to refuel and I took it off at the sink while I was washing my face,” Walls said. “We were halfway back to Arkansas before I realized I left it.”
Todd contacted DeQueen High School after learning it might be the school Wells attended in 1993, the year engraved onto the ring. A school guidance counselor who was once Walls’ English teacher sent him a Facebook message about the ring, he said.
“Once I realized what was going on I was like, ‘holy crap,’” Walls said. “[The ring] holds a ton of sentimental value.”
The ring celebrated Walls’ varsity football team making it to the state semi-finals during his junior year. That was the last year he played football, focusing on baseball during his senior year.
Walls has daughters who play sports and said he’s discussed the ring with them but until now never had a picture or any means to show it to them.
Todd wasn’t the only sleuth to locate Walls in the last few days. Several people have messaged Todd — now a resident of Broken Bow, Ok. — about his ownership of the ring since the News Bulletin’s story published, he said.
“I’m grateful for everyone who sought me out,” Walls said. “Ms. Todd gets all the credit, though.”
The two have arranged for the ring to be sent back to Walls. His family travels to Florida frequently and the next time he’s in the Crestview area he hopes to meet Todd.
“I’d like to take her out to lunch and probably give her a big hug,” Walls said.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Ring's owner found after two decades