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The Fellowship of the Ring

by Kent VanSooy

More than 25 years ago the path of two families crossed for the first time when a pair of teenage brothers (Kent and Scott) decided to join a high-adventure Boy Scout Explorer post. The brothers soon became fast friends with the members of the group; the eldest was Warren, an Eagle Scout. Warren was also the only member of the group who had already graduated from high school and he proudly wore his 1974 Westminster High School ring. The ring was a gift from Warren's mother who had worked extra to be able to afford the ring for her son. After a couple of years of guys-only camping and adventure, a decision was made to include young ladies in the group. Although he didn't know it at the time, for Warren it was the beginning of his life's biggest adventure: he fell in love and eventually married one of the girls, named Debbie.

Now fast-forward about 15 years. The parents of Kent and Scott (Kirk & Mary Lois VanSooy) have become avid detectorists and have learned to comb the local beaches, parks and schools. One day at Cal State Long Beach (CSULB) they find a class ring with the initials "WJF". Scott happens to see his parents' find and momentarily wonders if perhaps the ring could belong to Warren. But soon this thought is forgotten and the ring becomes lost again in a growing collection of items found by the detectorists.

Let's fast-forward again another 10 years, this time to the present. Kent and Scott's parents are now retired and have the time to sort through their treasures from the last two decades. Once again, the ring surfaces, along with a vague recollection of Scott's thought-could this be Warren's ring? The parents contact Kent to see if he knows how to reach Warren and Debbie; Kent last saw them before their military deployment to Belgium, but remembers their email address. There's a quick flurry of email exchanges and it's revealed that Warren's initials are indeed "WJF" and his precious class ring was stolen from the gym at CSULB in 1978. But sadly, it's also learned that Warren's mother, who worked so hard to pay for the ring has only a few weeks to live. For Warren, the news that his ring will soon be returned is a needed ray of sunshine and hope made possible by the detectorists and the shifting sands of time.