02-06-2025
Stranger's sleuthing reunites Grandview Heights graduate with class ring lost 50 years ago
GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio (WCMH) — Just after graduating from Grandview Heights High School in 1975, Mary Melfi lost her class ring off the coast of a Maryland beach. After nearly 50 years, a stranger went above and beyond to reunite them.
'It's funny, I'm wearing my class ring, and I'm going to be 68,' Mary said. 'A friend of mine the other day said, 'So why do you have your class ring on?' And I said, 'Oh, you don't know the story?' because it just gives me an avenue to tell my story, because it is so remarkable.'
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Mary and her husband, fellow Grandview Heights graduate Larry Melfi, said they began getting Facebook messages last year about the ring. The couple said they have Shawn Tippett to thank — just three days into owning a metal detector, he uncovered the ring buried nearly one foot in the sand.
With a large gemstone and a once-white gold band, Tippett could have pawned or kept the jewelry. Instead, noting the Grandview Heights 1975 engraving and a pair of initials, Tippett set out to reunite the ring with its rightful owner. He tracked down a yearbook and searched for a match to the 'MVM' initials on the inner band, finding just one candidate: Mary Virginia Masse, Mary's maiden name.
The ring was lost on a trip with her high school boyfriend, Tony, who the Melfis contacted after learning about Tippett's discovery. In the summer of 1975, Mary and Tony exchanged class rings at the beach. Tony put Mary's in his pocket and soon realized he'd lost it in the ocean.
'I remember slugging him and saying, 'Are you kidding? I just got that ring.' And then, of course, time went on, and I totally forgot about rings until last year,' Mary said.
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Tony reached out to Tippett, who sent him the ring. Tony then passed it along to Mary, texting her, 'I told you I would find it.'
Mary was now the proud owner of two GHHS class rings, joking with Larry about still having Tony's somewhere. Larry said Mary could send the other ring back, and Mary quipped about worrying Tony would 'think it was over.'
'We both grew up in Grandview Heights, so we know all the same people,' Larry laughed. 'That's why I know people in Mary's class, and she knows people in my class. Neither of us are jealous people.'
Mary and Larry Melfi said they were just 'amazed' someone would go to such trouble to reunite the ring and its owner. Although they have texted, the couple called Tippett for the first time this week.
'Once again, thanked him for going the distance, and he said, 'I'm having as much fun telling the story as I know you are,'' Mary said. 'A lot of people wouldn't go to all the trouble to do that.'
Mary and Larry will be able to show the ring off further this September, when they return for Mary's 50th reunion.
'It is a beautiful stone, you know,' Mary said. 'And amazingly enough, it still fits my finger, which is pretty remarkable.'
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