Ring returned 35 years later

COLUMBUS, Ga. -- Old-fashioned kindness and modern computers helped Emily A. Cheatham Hart get back her Baker High School class ring 35 years after it was lost.

She and her boyfriend at the time of her 1966 graduation exchanged rings. He lost hers in Missouri while working with his father.

The owner of A&M Restaurant in Fredericktown, Mo., found the ring, inscribed with the initials EAC for Emily Ann Cheatham, Hart's maiden name. He tried to find the owner, but eventually put it away.

His grandson, Larry Coffman, discovered the ring a year ago while going through his late grandfather's belongings.

"I believe he would have tried to find the owner; he was that kind of man," said Coffman, of Calvert City, Ky.

Coffman used the Internet to locate Baker High schools all across the country. Last year, he called Len Mosser, Muscogee County School District coordinator of property and records.

"I said it sounded like a Baker ring," Mosser said. "I suggested we would make a search and see if we could come up with the owner."

Following the initials led Mosser to Hart, who now lives in LaGrange. She was reluctant to call Coffman.

"I didn't know if it was my ring," she said. "I didn't feel right doing it."

Mosser suggested to Coffman that he send the ring to him and Mosser would see that Hart got it.

Hart's brother, Nathan Cheatham, and their mother surprised her with the ring for Valentine's Day.