URBANA — An Urbana woman’s high school class ring completed its trip around the world this week when the precious keepsake was returned to her by mail from the most recent people to find it.
Polly Long -- Polly Toomire in 1978 -- got her chance to open the package that held the Urbana High School class ring she gifted to Stella Gaviria, an exchange student from Colombia, when they both graduated in 1980.
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That ring was the second one belonging to Long that went missing. Long said she had to order a new class ring because her boyfriend at the time lost the first one.
That second ring -- the one mailed to Toomire Long -- was lost by Gaviria and found by a couple at a music festival in Barcelona, Spain.
News Center 7′s Haley Kosik was with Toomire Long on Thursday when ring made its triumphant return from its 42-year journey.
“I think it was meant to come back to you,” Claudi Valenti told Toomire Long. “It must be, it’s amazing!”
Valenti and Adrian White, who found the ring at the music festival, spoke with Toomire Long via Facebook Messenger.
“And I picked it up and I showed it to Adrian. It’s like, ‘oh I found this ring! And Adrian told me, ‘Well actually it’s a high school ring, because it’s not common here in Europe.”
White looked inside the band, Valenti said, noting that he saw the name “Polly Toomire” inscribed and thought, ‘Oh that’s such an unusual last name. This person must be easy to find.”
White said it was pretty clear that Polly Toomire Long was the owner. “She told me the back story of how she lost the ring, then got it back and gave it to her old friend Stella.”
Toomire Long wants to know how the ring made the trip from Colombia to Spain and where Gaviria is living now.
“I’m not going to give up,” Toomire Long said. “I’m going to keep trying to find her.”
She said she plans to ask the International Rotary Club, the organization that sent Gaviria to live with Toomire Long’s family, for help. Toomire Long also said she even reached out to Dr. Phil.
Why? Toomire Long wants to know why Gaviria doesn’t have the ring and how it ended up across the globe.
“Like I said,” Toomire Long said, “If that ring could talk, boy what a story, huh!?”
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