Shortly after graduating from Fordham University in 1969, Dr. Al DiStefano lost his class ring while standing on a dock off the Long Island Sound. He vaguely recalls watching the ring sink beneath the murky water, where it remained for more than half a century.
DiStefano told the New York Post,
Once in a blue moon, I'd think about the ring having a nice life at the bottom of the Sound.
DiStefano moved away from New York, where he later became an oncologist, practicing medicine for more than 40 years before retiring in Arlington, Texas.
But his ring didn't move far at all. It was unearthed just half a mile from the spot DiStefano lost it in 1969 by a hobby metal detectorist, an electrician named Dave Orlowski.
The ring was in great shape, with the name of the university and class year clearly visible, and inside was inscribed DiStefano's name.
Orlowski initially planned to keep or sell the ring, but his wife convinced him otherwise. He explained,
She told me it would be bad karma to keep the ring since we had the name of the person inscribed. She asked me if I'd want my ring back in that situation, and that answered my question.
Orlowski was able to track down the ring's owner through a class of 1969 reunion page on Facebook and was soon put in contact with DiStefano. DiStefano told the New York Post,
He mailed it to me, and I got it less than a week later — it's in marvelous condition. I'm wearing it now; I figured I ought to make up for lost time.
He has a lot of time to make up for, but thanks to Orlowski (well, actually, his wife), DiStefano was reunited with a little piece of his history that he thought was long gone.
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