THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 7, 1994 TAG: 9412070441
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 104 lines
Kate Hall Byrd remembers the head-high wave that knocked her into the surf at Ocean View. She rolled, she tumbled, she gasped for breath.
When she waded out of the rough water, Kate realized her new gold Elizabeth City High School ring had slipped off her finger.
It was 1927, the year the Babe hit 60 homers.
Lucky Lindy had just flown the the first nonstop solo flight from New York to Paris.
Ford had unveiled the Model A.
And 17-year-old Kate Hall lost her class ring in the shadow of the Ocean View boardwalk with its arcades and loop the loop.
Sixty-seven years later, retired firefighter Jim Daniel was killing an unseasonably warm November afternoon doing what he calls ``junk digging'' on the beach near Ocean View Park.
He strapped on his Fisher 1280-X Aquanaut metal detector - the Cadillac of sand scanners - and snapped the red earphones on his head.
Soon the machine started buzzing. Most likely it was a soft drink pull tab, a stray penny or a Coke can, thought Daniel.
But in his long-handled sand scooper, Daniel saw a gold ring glinting in the sun. A class ring . . . from Elizabeth City High School. . . The numbers on each side of the class shield were legible: 19-27.
Daniel stared at the ring in disbelief. It was the fourth class ring he'd unearthed in the 14 years he'd been an amateur treasure hunter - and the oldest by far.
It was all the more remarkable because Daniel and other metal-detecting beachcombers have ``picked over'' most of the popular local beaches, and sand replacement in other areas has buried many old treasures under tons of new sand.
``I couldn't believe it,'' Daniel says. ``On the inside, it had the initials KDH.''
Daniel may have been a Norfolk firefighter before he retired, but there is a little bit of detective in the divorced father of two.
He immediately telephoned Elizabeth City High School and asked if they had a girl with initials KDH in their 1927 records. They didn't, and suggested he check the local library to find an old annual.
Daniel hopped in his Honda and drove to the Elizabeth City library, where he could find only a 1925 high school yearbook.
``I checked the sophomore class and there she was, Katy Hall,'' Daniel says with satisfaction. ``I knew it had to be her. The class wasn't that big and she was the only girl with the right initials.''
But odds that the former Miss Hall was still among the living were slim. ``I figured maybe I'd find a son or daughter or nephew to give the ring to,'' said the mustachioed Daniel.
Daniel enlisted the help of an Elizabeth City radio station to put out the bulletin: Would anyone who knew Kate Hall, class of '27, please call the station.
Ten minutes later, the phone rang. It was Katy Hall, now Kate Byrd, a widow living in the town of her childhood. One of her friends had been listening to the radio and alerted her to call the station.
Byrd was taken aback by the discovery of her old ring.
``I remember coming out of the water that time and saying `Oh my lands, I've lost my ring,' '' she says. ``I believed it was gone. Forever.''
The Hall family made frequent excursions to Virginia Beach and Ocean View in the 1920s, so Byrd can't remember the date she lost her ring. But she does remember her favorite swimsuit that summer: a black tank suit with a low back and cut-outs on the sides.
``I think it was pretty risque,'' confesses the 84-year-old president of the Sunday School at Blackwell Memorial Baptist Church.
When she realized the discovery of her old ring was newsworthy, it dawned on Byrd that her age would no longer be a well-kept secret.
``One of my first thoughts was that everyone in town would get out their pencils now and figure out how old I am,'' Byrd said, laughing. ``But I decided I'm proud of my age. Proud the Lord has let me live so long.''
Since that day on the Ocean View beach, Byrd has been married and widowed twice. Her second husband died suddenly in June, leaving her to fill her days with volunteer work at nursing homes, at the Fleet Reserve and VFW.
She was on her way to a nursing home when Daniel rang the bell. He made a little ceremony out of returning the ring.
But when Byrd held out her hand, Daniel realized the little gold ring would no longer fit her ring finger.
Instead he slipped it on her pinky.
``With this ring, I thee find,'' Daniel joked.
Byrd says she's wearing the ring everywhere now.
``Mr. Daniel was nice enough to take it to a jeweler before bringing it to me, and it was all clean and shiny,'' she says. ``It brings back memories, I'll tell you that.'' ILLUSTRATION: TAMARA VONINSKI/Staff color photos
Kate Hall Byrd lost her Elizabeth City High School ring after she
was tossed by the Ocean View surf during an outing in the 1920s.
Retired firefighter Jim Daniel found a 1927 class ring while
scouring the beach near Ocean View Park with his metal detector.
Photo
TAMARA VONINSKI/Staff
Kate Hall Byrd says she wears the recovered ring everywhere now.
``It brings back memories, I'll tell you that.''
by CNB