Phone 'Ring' Reunites Jewelry with Owner

Vickie Adkinsson, left, and Cottonwood, CA, Postmaster Beverly Fickes

Thanks to postal employees in California, Vickie Adkinsson has been reunited with her Anderson Union High School class ring that she lost in 1965 while attending a football game. Believing the ring was gone forever, Adkinsson saved her money to buy a replacement.

Nearly 30 years later, the father of Cottonwood, CA, Postmaster Betty Fickes was engaged in his hobby of metal detecting when he found a ring engraved with the initials V and R. Another decade passed before the elder Fickes read a newspaper article about Anderson Union’s 2009 all-class high school reunion. He recalled finding the ring and asked his daughter whether she could locate the owner.

Fickes first checked with Anderson Postmaster Sherry Lelevich to see if there was a current alumni association register. No luck. Then one of Fickes’ employees mentioned that former Cottonwood Postmaster Steven Harp was an Anderson Union graduate.

Fickes called Harp, who made some inquiries. Harp led Fickes to an Anderson Union graduate who had an address for a Vickie Romero Adkinsson.Letters and phone calls led to the reunion of Adkinsson and her ring. After all these years, Adkinsson is happy to report it still fits.