Ring takes 15 journey and returns home

[Travman 6]

I found this article on a fellow skydiver, Larry Simmons who lost his class ring before joining the Navy only to be reunited with it 15 years later!

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Ring takes 15 journey and returns home

By GREG STONE
Herald Assistant Editor

This Thanksgiving, Larry Simmons got a special gift for the second time.

The Lake Elsinor, Calif. resident was spending the holiday week with his family in Sapulpa when he was reunited with a long lost treasure.

"After dinner, they presented me with a gift since I may not be home for Christmas," Simmons said. "They said, 'This is a gift we've already given you before' and they had it all wrapped up," he said.

It was his high school class ring, which Simmons lost 15 years ago.

While many high school graduates have misplaced what was once a highly-cherished symbol of bygone days, Simmons' ring has a special story of survival.

Simmons, now 33, graduated from Sapulpa High School in 1990, and like most of his classmates he ordered a class ring. It was silver with a blue stone, engraved with a symbol of FFA, to which Simmons belonged.

He even had his name engraved on the inside of the ring, a decision that turned out to be a vital one.

"I wasn't going to get all the extras, the frills and stuff," he said. "Signing your name in the ring was, like, an extra $10 for something, and I almost didn't do it. Now I'm really glad I did."

Simmons enlisted in the Navy following his graduation, and sometime in the summer of 1990, he was at the home of a friend who lived next door to the Sapulpa Public Library. And sometime during that visit, the ring slipped off Simmons' hand.

When he realized the ring was missing, "I looked for it off and on for two months or so. I was getting ready to leave town and go explore the world."

But the ring was never found, and Simmons went off to the Navy. Over the years he would wonder what had happened to it, but even he admits he?d forgotten about it.

Flash forward to August 2005, 15 years after Simmons lost the ring.

The house just north of the library had been torn down to make way for American Heritage Bank's Big Build project. One day a volunteer was moving a final bit of dirt on the northeast corner of the lot, preparing for a concrete slab to be poured.

Something shiny caught the glint of the sun. It was a high school class ring.

And thanks to some agile investigators on the job site and in the school district administration building, the ring was returned to Simmons' parents, who still live in Sapulpa.

When Simmons opened the small paper tube on Thanksgiving day and his long-lost ring slid into his hand, he was shocked beyond belief.

"It's surprising to me that even when it was found that it had made it back," he said. "It was about to be covered up by concrete and would never have been found.

"At first I thought it was some trick they were pulling on me or something," he said, laughing. "I was just awestruck and amazed that I'm seeing this thing again. A blast from the past."

When his parents, Jesse and Becky Simmons, told him the story of how the ring was found, Larry Simmons decided to stay in town a few extra days and thank all those people who'd helped return his ring.

"They put that effort out, which is a real surprising thing these days," he said. "I live in California, and coming back home, I find more friendly, kind-natured people willing to give a little love.

"This was a community effort," he said. "Each day that passes now, it just touches my heart even more."

Simmons said he'll wear the ring for a while then put it somewhere for safe keeping. And it's a safe bet he won't be wearing it to work.

That's because Simmons works thousands of feet above the surface of the earth - as a professional skydiver.

After he was honorably discharged from the Navy in 1998 - during which time he served aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt during the first Gulf War - Simmons realized his passion for skydiving and pursued it full-time.

Simmons made his first jump on Nov. 16, 1991. "I totally fell head over heels for skydiving," he said. "I felt I could make a living and enjoy life more that way."

His efforts have paid off. He's logged more than 5,700 jumps in his career. "I've got a couple of days of freefall time now."

He's widely known in the profession and works as a freefall camera man, a master parachute rigger and has even trained members of the armed forces.

Simmons said he's known for his antics in the air. "There are so many different styles of flying," he said. "It's like you get used to driving the old Chevy truck, and then you get a little sports car and it's a different ride."

Simmons said he sometimes makes as many as 18 jumps in a day. "I sometimes spend more time in the air in a day than I do on the ground," he said, laughing.

He's won numerous medals in regional and national competitions, including third place in the U.S. National Skydiving Championship in September.

In the meantime, Simmons will continue flying the friendly skies and appreciate his newfound ring.

"Just keep spreading the love and the good vibes, and it just keeps coming back to you," he said.

Source: http://www.sapulpadailyherald.com/homepage/local_story_337104945.html?keyword=leadpicturestory

[jumpergirl 0]

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"Just keep spreading the love and the good vibes, and it just keeps coming back to you," he said.

Amen!!

What a heartwarming story.

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