In 1998, Sue Clark found an
Okeechobee High School Class of 1989 ring in the parking lot of the old Walmart
store (now the location of Tractor Supply.) The ring was engraved with the
letters "CMR". From the size and design of the ring, it appeared to
be a girl’s ring.
Mrs. Clark tried to find the owner, but was unsuccessful. She even looked up
the records at the school board office and found that only one girl with the
initials C.M.R. was in that class -- Candace Michelle Rowell.
Mrs. Clark called every Rowell in the Okeechobee phone book, but had no luck.
As time passed, she forgot about the ring. She put the ring -- and a note with
the little information she had about it -- in a jewelry box for safe keeping.
When she moved out of state, the jewelry box containing the ring went with her.
Recently, Mrs. Clark moved back to Okeechobee. As she was unpacking in her new
home, she came across the ring and decided to try again to find the owner.
On Monday afternoon, she brought the ring to the Okeechobee News office, along
with the note from her first search in 1998. Okeechobee News staffers
photographed the ring and put the story on the Okeechobee News Facebook page,
which has more than 5,500 “fans,” including some members of the OHS Class of
1989.
Within an hour, the post had been shared more than 100 times, and the owner --
now Candace Flores -- was found. She now lives in Fort Pierce.
Through private Facebook messaging, the Okeechobee News put Mrs. Clark in
contact with Mrs. Flores and they made arrangements for the ring’s return.
“This is a miracle!” Mrs. Flores posted on her own Facebook page.
She said she lost the ring in 1991. She was pregnant at the time, and her
fingers had swollen so she had been wearing the ring on a chain around her
neck. When she realized she lost the ring, she searched for it, but had no idea
exactly when or where the chain had broken.
“I thought it was lost forever,” she stated.
Mrs. Clark was surprised at how quickly the Okeechobee News Facebook post was
able to connect with the ring’s owner.
“I have chills,” she said.
“I know how
much my own class ring means to me,” she added. “I didn’t want to give up on
finding the owner.”
The ring appears to be in good condition. There is no way to tell if it was in
that parking lot for 7 years or if someone else found it and then lost it
again.
It’s a Facebook story with a happy ending, and apparently Facebook posters like
happy endings. By Tuesday morning, the post had been shared 273 times, and read
more than 15,000 times.
The 52 messages left by Facebook posters included many happy to see social
media used for something positive.
