Class ring lost in flood; returned to owner 40 years later - KOTA Territory News

Class ring lost in flood; returned to owner 40 years later

Rapid City Public Librarian, Leanna Bussell, recently helped find the owner of a 1968 class ring that was lost 40 years ago during the 1972 Rapid City Flood.

A gentleman from another state had two class rings and a man's bracelet that he had recovered from a trailer house in Rapid City during the clean-up of the devastating flood. He tried for years to find the owners of the jewelry, but with no success. Laura Johnson from South Dakota Magazine suggested that the gentleman contact the Rapid City Public Library after she had done a story for the magazine about the Flood.

Within an hour of getting the assignment, Leanna had located the owner of one of the class rings by scanning through a 1968 class yearbook for someone with the initials V.R.

Vesper Wright of Rapid City was thrilled to have her ring returned and to see that it still fit! She was also very surprised and touched that someone had kept her ring safe and was trying to locate her all these years.