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Peabody Woman Gets Lost High School Class Ring Back 45 Years Later

PEABODY (CBS) - A class ring missing for more than 45 years is now back with its rightful owner.

Janet Faircloth Kentros of Peabody had given up all hope of ever seeing the keepsake again.

Now she's stunned and incredibly grateful someone found it.

She clearly remembers it was her boyfriend who lost it back in 1971.

Janet Faircloth Kentros ring
Janet Faircloth Kentros' ring. (WBZ-TV)

"He had it on his key chain and lost his keys," she told WBZ-TV. "So the ring was gone, as far as we were concerned, forever."

Well maybe not forever.

It was found at the track behind Bishop Fenwick High School last week and school staffers started digging through the 1971 yearbook.

Janet Faircloth Kentros
Janet Faircloth Kentros. (WBZ-TV)

And that's where they found Janet Faircloth, seemingly a fit for the faint initials engraved inside the ring.

"When I went down and looked at the inside of the ring and saw JMF, those are my initials, and I knew right away it was mine," Kentros said.

Janet Faircloth Kentros ring
Janet Faircloth Kentros' ring. (WBZ-TV)

She hadn't thought about it much as the decades went by, but admits to some high school flashbacks now that it's in her hands again.

"Amazingly, I thought it was in great shape," she told WBZ.

She appreciates the effort made by her old school and says they were more emotional then she was.

"The woman said 'Oh, just let me give you a big hug. We're so excited that we can reunite the owner with the ring,'" Kentros said.

Who knows where it's been all these years, but that old boyfriend is probably quite happy its back.

Janet Faircloth Kentros
Janet Faircloth Kentros. (WBZ-TV)

"That boyfriend has now been my husband for 42 years so he's off the hook now," she said.

With retirement just around the corner Jan says she won't be wearing the ring much.

But it will get a prime spot in her jewelry box.

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