THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 7, 1995 TAG: 9504060150
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Donna Pierce is thinking about opening a professional lost-and-found service.
Six months ago, Jason Pierce, her stepson, found a 1993 Denbigh High School ring at a shopping mall.
Donna Pierce called the school and was able to locate the ring's owner by the initials and its wrestling emblem.
Despite their efforts, the owner never came to collect the ring and Pierce still has it.
Three weeks ago, another wayward ring was added to the Pierce collection when 8-year-old Tiffany Pierce spotted a class ring on the floor of a substitute school bus she was riding.
This ring, with the initials E L H inscribed on the inside, has a light blue stone and is from Suffolk High School 1972.
Donna Pierce hasn't been so lucky in her search for this ring's owner.
She has spent several weeks placing phone calls to try and locate the the person who lost it.
She found out that the ring did come from Suffolk High School, but that the school was closed years ago. Two high schools, Lakeland and Nansemond River, were built to replace four older schools.
She also found out that the old school's records and year books weren't immediately available.
Most people would have stopped searching after hitting those road blocks, but not Pierce.
``You can tell it's important to someone,'' Pierce said. ``The band is kind of flattened out (as if it's been worn a long time). It's just one of those things you can't replace, and if I lost mine I'd like somebody to try and find me.''
Pierce called Tiffany's school, Trantwood Elementary, to see if the bus driver could help. She couldn't.
She called the company that made the ring but it was bought out by another company that didn't keep the previous company's sales records.
Pierce guesses the ring was probably carried to school by a child for show and tell.
Either way, the lost ring sits in a desk, next to the first lost ring, at Pierce's job in Norfolk.
The family is hoping the ring's rightful owner will step forward to claim it. MEMO: If you have information about the ring described above, or know someone
who graduated from Suffolk High School in the early '70s, call Donna
Pierce at 473-0434 or 558-6653.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Tiffany Pierce, 8, holds the 1972 Suffolk High School class ring she
found on a school bus. It has a light blue stone and is inscribed
with the initials E L H.
by CNB