Trent Dawson, owner of Mr. Rooter of Mid-Ohio, presents Cherie Kissiar with her 1991 Mansfield Senior High class ring.
A Mansfield Senior High School class ring, missing for a quarter century, is back on the finger of its owner.
Cherie (Thompson) Kissiar of Mansfield was reunited with her 1991 class ring today during a brief ceremony at the Mr. Rooter of Mid-Ohio plumbing office on Trimble Road.
You guessed it: Kissiar lost the ring and Trent Dawson, owner of Mr. Rooter in Mansfield, found it many years later after a routine plumbing job. But there’s more to the story and the oldest of Dawson’s three daughters has a part in it.
Kissiar believes she may have lost the ring in 1990.
“My mom was sick and I was taking care of her. She died in 1990. I think that is about the time I realized the ring was missing,” Kissiar said.
The ring would remain lost for 19 years.
“I found it about seven years ago after cleaning a floor drain,” Dawson said. “I was cleaning my shop vac when I noticed something shiny. It was the 1991 class ring.”
Dawson took the ring home and put it in his wife’s jewelry box along with a few others found over the years.
Recently, Dawson’s 14-year-old daughter was looking through the jewelry box and noticed the rings.
“She said to me, ‘Dad, what are you doing with other people’s class rings?’ That’s when it hit me. I thought, ‘Yeah, what am I doing with them?’” Dawson said.
He began a search, aided by Jason Lee of The Dwyer Group of Waco, Texas, Mr. Rooter’s corporate public relations firm.
“With all of the social media outlets today, I thought we might have a chance of finding the owner,” Dawson said.
Lee sent an email to Larry Gibbs, Mansfield City Schools’ public relations consultant. Gibbs posted a brief story and a photo of the 1991 ring on the district website, tygerpride.com.
“I got a call from someone who saw the story on the website and asked if I was missing my class ring,” Kissiar said. “I checked the website and knew it was mine.”
Meanwhile, a teacher who also had seen the story on tygerpride.com contacted Dawson.
Did Kissair think she would ever be reunited with the ring?
“No, never,” she said, smiling broadly.
Kissiar’s ring was one of four that ended up in Dawson’s wife’s jewelry box.
Connie Eberling Keck, a 1969 graduate of Black River High School, also got her ring back today. She had lost it during the late 1970s.
The owner of a 1989 Ashland High School class ring was located in Kentucky but couldn’t make it to today’s presentation ceremony. Dawson will mail it to him.
The fourth ring remains unidentified. Dated 1972, it appears to have belonged to a female with the initials K and S on it. The ring has a black stone with an F in the center.
“We are so excited that we were able to meet the owners of class rings we have found in the past few years,” Dawson said, “and I want them to know how happy we are to reunite them with their rings.”