SAN ANTONIO — For Ralph Saenz, his time at Thomas Edison High School was one to remember
"There's an experience you never can forget," he said. "I had a lot of friends and did different events. I had ROTC, trying out for football, senior prom. That was the most fun thing, and I also did my ROTC senior prom.."
That's why he bought a class ring - a blue aquamarine, his March birthstone, in the center with the Edison High mascot a Golden Bear peeking through. On one side, '1983,' and the symbol for the ROTC. On the other, his first name.
"You want to graduate from high school and say, I graduated and I made it," Saenz said. "So when I lost the first ring, I was kind of sad, but then I said I would just get another one. and I did. And I had lost this one."
42 years ago, Saenz was a senior, working as a busboy at Bill Miller's on Blanco and Fresno when he dropped his ring somewhere.
"I said, 'This is it,' so I just gave up," he said. "I'm not looking for it."
For years, it remained lost, until Gerry Becerra stumbled upon a class ring in a yard sale.
"I frequent yard sales in the area just to look for antiques and stuff like that," he said. "Being that I was supposed to graduate from Edison, the ring caught my eye. You know, had a nice blue jewel on it with a golden bear in the middle."
Becerra paid a dollar for the class ring.
"It didn't belong to him," he said. "He found it. So he was selling it with other pieces, other antiques, and I just thought maybe finding the owner is possible. He told me that he found it at a Bill Miller. It used to be in the area."
Thanks to a friend, a picture of the ring was posted with whatever little information Becerra knew about its origins on the 'Golden Alumni Association' group's Facebook page.
" I just thought, you know, just let's put it out there and see what happens," Becerra said. "Let's see if we can find the owner and I didn't think it was going to be successful, but it it worked."
Within three days, Ralph Saenz had responded, in disbelief that his ring was found. On Saturday, the group met up at another alum's restaurant, so Becerra could return the ring to Saenz. Saenz feels the ring returning was fated.
"You never know the unexpected of actually getting something back and then not knowing where it came from," Saenz said. "That's the unexpected, that's God's doing. Not mine. God always works in mysterious ways."