Metal detectorist Craig Nichols, left, and Barbara James, Fort Vancouver High School Class of 1981, look over her class ring at Wintler Park last week. Nichols recovered and returned the ring that had been missing for 42 years. (Amanda Cowan/The Columbian)Photo Gallery
Forty-two years ago, Fort Vancouver High School graduate Barbara Pederson spent a day on the beach at Wintler Park. Before sunbathing, she took off her class ring — a precious graduation present from her parents — and put it in her bag. She didn’t want an unsightly tan line on her finger when her boyfriend, Jeff James, popped the question.
When she got home that summer day in 1982, she reached into the bag for the ring but came up empty. That’s when she remembered: At the end of the day, she’d turned her bag upside down to shake out the sand. She must have dumped the ring out with the sand. She returned to Wintler Park several times over the next three weeks, she said, desperately searching for a glint of silver or a twinkle from the ring’s garnet.
“Finally, I had to tell my mom and dad. I felt horrible,” said James. “My parents were middle class; $200 was a big deal.”
Soon enough, gold replaced silver: An engagement ring, followed by a wedding ring. She married Jeff James and is still married to him over four decades later. Barbara James, 61, a retired nurse and former director of women’s and children’s services at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, said she’s lived her whole life in Vancouver. She’s been to Wintler Park many times, she said, but her ring remained stubbornly hidden beneath shifting sands and an undulating water line.
It’s a sad tale that might have been lost to the sands of time, if not for one man and his trusty metal detector.
Craig Nichols, 66, of Orchards, took up metal detecting about five years ago, he said, after watching YouTube videos. He’s searched for metallic treasures all over Clark County but regularly wades out into the Columbia River’s waves at Wintler Park, a popular gathering spot for generations of high school students.
“I’ve always loved finding things. That’s a big part of it for me,” Nichols said. “I’m not really interested in the value of the things I find. I’ve found gold rings and all kinds of crazy things. I look at them for a few days, toss them on the dresser and go find another one.”
Nichols, a graduate of Portland’s David Douglas High School who’s lived in Vancouver for 40 years, has found several interesting items buried under topsoil and tucked into underbrush. He’s returned at least one other piece of jewelry to its owner, a pendant with a baby’s picture, name and birth date.
Wintler Park has yielded a few out-of-the-ordinary discoveries, like a pistol that had been tossed into the water and two parking meters hidden beneath bushes. In both cases, he called the police.
“You find all kinds of crazy things from fingernail clippers to everything you can imagine, just all kinds of weird stuff,” Nichols said. “Most of the time it’s junk — bottle caps and beer tabs.”
Nichols said he doesn’t know when he found James’ ring. It could have been a couple years ago or it could have been five years ago. Whenever it was, Nichols said the piece was so tarnished that he didn’t recognize it as being anything valuable.
He threw it into a sandwich bag with all the other “junk jewelry,” as he calls it, that he’s unearthed over the years. His grandkids love to sort through the bag whenever they come to visit, Nichols said. The old ring would have stayed in the bag if his granddaughter hadn’t picked it out a few weeks ago.
“As soon as she held it up, I said, ‘What the heck? Where did this come from?’ ” Nichols said. “This is a silver ring. This doesn’t belong here with the junk jewelry.”
He decided to clean it up so he and his wife, Tina Nichols, could see the markings more clearly. The “FV” became visible first, so they knew it was a Fort Vancouver High School ring. Then they found a year: 1981. Then they found a name, Pederson. It was an unusual spelling, said Tina Nichols. Maybe there was a chance the ring’s owner could be found.
Tina Nichols sprang into action. First, she called Fort Vancouver High School to see if they had any old yearbooks. They didn’t. She Googled local Pedersons and called a few phone numbers, but none of them were the owners. Then she called Fort Vancouver Regional Libraries, wondering if they kept old yearbooks. They don’t — but the name Pederson rang a bell with Senior Public Services Librarian Monica Garcia, who answered Tina Nichols’ call. Garcia wondered if her colleague, Wendy Pederson, might be any relation to the ring’s original owner. Garcia notified Pederson, who said her husband had a cousin named Barbara who might have graduated from Fort Vancouver High School in 1981. Pederson reached out to Barbara James via Facebook and asked if she’d lost her school ring.
“I laughed I said, ‘Yeah, 42 years ago. What are the chances?’ ” James said.
James called Craig and Tina Nichols, who asked her to describe the ring. James did, down to the cheerleading symbol on the ring’s side. The three of them arranged to meet in the parking lot of the Orchards Fred Meyer.
“I was so excited,” James said. “I’m holding it and of course it dropped onto the ground. The FV symbol on the top popped off. We found it and put it back in the baggie.”
James said she took the ring to Erik Runyan Jewelers to be cleaned and have the “FV” reset atop the garnet. James is grateful to Garcia for connecting the dots. Garcia said she’s “so blown away” to help solve a 42-year-old mystery. But then, it’s all part of her job, she said.
“Often times, when people call, they have in their mind what they think they need,” Garcia said. “It’s a librarian’s job to step back and say, ‘What are they really asking for?’ ”
When Garcia asked Tina Nichols why she wanted the yearbooks, Tina Nichols told her the whole tale. Garcia said she’s delighted at the library’s supporting role in this story. Maybe it’s a bit of sheer luck, but it’s also a sweet reminder about the library’s role in community life, Garcia said. It’s a place to connect people with information. It just so happens that Garcia was able to connect the two threads of this story.
“So the ring found me,” James said. “It’s twice as special. I just think it’s an absolutely wonderful story.”
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