Lost and Found: Class Ring Returned After 39 Years

It's been 39 years since Jonathan Pullano bought his East Rochester High School class ring with money he earned, and then promptly lost it.

"I lost it, actually, within the first year of when I bought it," Pullano said. "The amount of pride in my high school was always a very, very big deal."

Pullano grew up in East Rochester, New York. He was the last in a long line of Pullanos to graduate from the high school. Now living in Bedford, Pullano often wished he still had that class ring.

Fast forward nearly four-decades and more than 1,500 miles away in Warrensburg, New York.

"I found a class ring with an inscription on the inside of it that said Jonathan Pullano," Sabrina Adams said.

Adams had been going through her father-in-law, Anthony Adams' belongings after he passed away recently.

"I have no idea how he came upon the ring," Adams said. The family guessed maybe it was in one of the old cars her father-in-law liked to buy and refurbish.

"Then I did some Facebook research."

She searched 'Jonathan Pullano' on Facebook, and found a profile that looked like it could be an older version of the young man who graduated in the class of 1982.

"So, a couple of weeks ago I got a message on my phone through Facebook Messenger," Pullano said. "'Did you by chance know a man named Anthony Adams?,'" Adams said reading her message. "And he goes, 'I do not know that name.'"

"And the next day I got a message from the same person," Pullano said. "Saying I think I found your class ring."

"And that's when we started doing the back and forth of trying to figure out if it was his or not," Adams said. "And it surely was."

Adams put the ring in an envelope and shipped it to Bedford.

"I mean, I'm wearing it," Pullano said, showing off his ring with a smile. "I can only fit it on my pinky. I've gained a few pounds since high school."

Pullano said he's grateful for the kindness of a stranger who went the extra mile.

"I don't have a unique story of losing it, but I have a pretty unique story of getting it back now," Pullano said. "It's home."