Class ring that went down toilet in '79 is returned to man

[Cass]

More than a quarter- century ago, Jerry Duran watched his 1978 Pomona High School class ring swirl around the toilet bowl and disappear.



On Tuesday, the gold ring with an aquamarine stone was headed back to Duran, who now lives in Del Norte, where he builds custom bicycles and is a ski patrol member at Wolf Creek Ski Area.



Duran, who said he hadn't thought about the ring in years, said its return is "much to my surprise."



Arvada Wastewater Division workers cleaning a sewer line before Christmas grabbed Duran's ring before it was swept though the city's main dump station.



After cleaning it, wastewater technician John Carlson, who makes and cleans jewelry as a hobby, got on the Internet and found Duran, whose name was inside the ring.



"That's what going the extra mile means," said Duran's mother, Margie Johnson, who picked up the ring Tuesday.



Duran, 44, said what's "quirky" about the return is that Carlson graduated in 1979 from Pomona, but they didn't know each other.



Johnson said her son "called me Friday night and said, 'You're not going to believe this, but I got a call from Arvada wastewater, and they found my class ring."'



Then he added, "Isn't that weird?"



Carlson, a 13-year city veteran, didn't want to talk about his involvement, but Johnson hoped she'd be able to thank him soon.



The ring, which was sucked out of a sewer line about a mile from the home where Duran lost it, is relatively unscathed.





http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0...2661161,00.html