# A Real Life "One Ring" Found



## Barliman Butterbur (Mar 10, 2005)

*Return of the ring: it was lost for 26 years*
By Earl Bolender

In his book, "The Hobbit," J.R.R. Tolkien tells the story of how the creature, Gollum, found the One Ring of Power at the bottom of a river.

While The Hobbit and Tolkien's subsequent trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings," are works of fiction that have caught the imagination of people of all ages, the finding of another ring at the bottom of a different river is a true story.

But, like The Lord of the Rings, the true life story has a lived-happily-ever-after ending.

A Dunsmuir High School class ring, which its owner lost 26 years ago, was recently returned.

It was in 1978 when Dunsmuir resident Pat Livengood, who was still in high school at the time, was enjoying a summer in Spokane, WA.

While diving into the Spokane River off the Argonne Road Bridge in the Spokane suburb of Millwood, his class ring slipped from his finger.

"I had recently bought the ring from Churchill's Jewelers, which was a prominent jeweler in town," Livengood said. "It cost me $100 at the time. It came off and went immediately to the bottom of the river."

Because of the depth of the river, about 25 feet under the bridge, Livengood said he had no chance of recovering his prized possession.

"I thought it was gone forever," he said.

Livengood, a licensed flooring contractor, put the ring out of his mind. That is, until two weeks ago when he received a call from Dunsmuir High School attendance clerk Danelle Cascarina who informed Livengood that she had received a call from a man who said he had found a DHS Class of 1979 ring, bearing the initials PHL.

The man, Randy Owens, owner of Sav-On Meats in Post Falls, ID, located near Spokane, asked if Cascarina could be of any assistance in locating the ring's owner.

"He asked if this was the Dunsmuir High School Tigers (which is inscribed on the ring)," Cascarina said. "I said, 'Yes, it is.' He then asked if I might be able to research and see if there had been a student with the initials PHL who was in the Class of 1979."

In looking back at the records, Cascarina found one student who matched the initials on the ring from that year, Patrick Howard Livengood. She knew that Livengood still lived in Dunsmuir because his name is on the school's emergency phone listing for one of the school's students.

Cascarina called Livengood and gave him Owens' telephone number in Idaho.

"I can't say enough good things about this gentleman," Livengood said. "Here's a guy who took the time to go through the research of finding out who the ring belonged to and seeing that it was returned. He even paid for the shipping and handling. I told him I would at least pay for that, but he said he had it all covered, not to worry about it. Honest people do honest things and this guy is definitely an honest person.

"I recently lost my mother and can't help thinking that she is looking over me," Livengood said. "After all these years, what are the odds that I would ever see my ring again. I'm forever grateful to this gentleman."

Owens said it was his privilege to have been able to reunite the ring with the owner. He recalled the story of the class ring during a telephone interview from his meat market.

"Me and a buddy became certified scuba divers in 1977," he said. "We've recovered a lot of items from the bottom of that (Spokane) river, everything from jewelry to cars."

Livengood's ring was actually found by Owens in 1984.

"I've recovered a lot of interesting things from right under that bridge, including old telephones and even a slot machine. I guess people just toss things into the river from the bridge figuring it will never be found again."

After finding Livengood's ring, Owens entered it in his log book and put it in storage with other artifacts he has found during his scuba diving adventures.

"The ring was in good shape," Owens said.

While doing an inventory of his recovered items, he decided to see if he could find the owner.

"With technology being the way it is today, I figured it was time to try and see if I could find the ring's owner," Owens said. "I didn't have a lot to go on. I didn't know where Dunsmuir was or whether the owner still lived there.

"The first thing I did was try and find out what state Dunsmuir was in," he said. "I went next door to the UPS office and asked if anyone had heard of a place called Dunsmuir. A woman said, 'Oh, you must mean Dunsmuir, California.'"

Owens got the number for Dunsmuir High School and made the call, which was answered by Cascarina.

"I'm glad that I've been able to reunite Pat with his ring," Owens said. "I still have the message he left on my answering machine, thanking me for returning his ring. It's such a nice message and will make for a good story for my customers.

"Pat offered to pay me for my trouble," Owens said. "I told him the only payment I wanted was that he would attend his next class reunion wearing the ring."

It was shortly after the return of the ring the Livengood received an invitation from Corey Rossetto to attend a joint 25 year class reunion of the classes of '78, '79 and '80 on July 2nd at the Dunsmuir Community Building.

"I'll be there, wearing my ring," Livengood said. "It doesn't fit on my ring finger anymore, but I can get it on my pinkie."

Source: http://www.mtshastanews.com/articles/2005/03/09/news/02ringreturned.prt

Barley


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