Goodwill And My Aggie Ring

Pamela Gosney Fette '76 emailed us a note after being reunited with her Aggie Ring. Here it is, in her words:

It was shameful to me that after 40 years of proudly wearing my Class of 1976 ring, it was lost. I did not want to admit that I could not find my ring, especially to my Dad, Class of 1954, who probably would have ordered me a replacement. It was also embarrassing to attend Aggie functions with no class ring. Aggies always look for the ring.

After losing my ring for about two years, something unexpected happened that I could never imagine.

My husband and I, with a car full of 15 large suitcases, were driving with our son and his family to DFW airport to put them on a plane to South Korea. In the car with our son was our daughter-in-law and four of our grandchildren. It was an emotionally charged morning with a journey that started from Belton, Texas, at 5:30 a.m.

As we entered DFW airport and were trying to find our terminal and gate to prepare for the tearful goodbye, my cell phone rang. It was Marisa Kahla ‘13, Ring Program assistant with The Association of Former Students at Texas A&M University. Marisa very politely asked if we could talk.

I answered frantically, “NO!  I am driving through DFW airport.”

“When is a convenient time to call you back?”

“Uh, I don’t even know right now!” All my mind could hold was that we were soon to say goodbye to our dear family for 11 months.

As soon as I got my mind back, I called Marisa back. Oh my goodness! What she told me was unbelievable. The Ring Program had located my Aggie ring. It was in Waco, Texas (we drive through Waco many times.). My Aggie Ring was for sale on a Goodwill online auction site. Some good person had emailed the office that they saw it. I was stunned.

After the tearful goodbyes at the airport, we drove to Waco and located the warehouse where all the online merchandise was held. After about an hour of phone calls and trying to get permission to release the item, a wonderful Goodwill lady walked out of the warehouse with my Aggie Ring in a little baggie. Another tearful experience.

My husband and I tried and tried to make some kind of cash donation to Goodwill, but the sweet lady would not allow it. Thanking her profusely, I placed the Aggie Ring back on my finger and we drove home.

We have absolutely no idea how that ring found its way north of Belton 45 miles to a Goodwill auction in Waco. But we are so grateful to the kind person who emailed the Ring Program, to the wonderful Marisa called me, and to Goodwill, who worked so hard to make sure that the ring was released to me. 

"But there’s a spirit can ne’er be told. It’s the Spirit of Aggieland."

We're always thrilled to hear and pass along stories of Aggie Rings that have made their way back to their rightful owners. The happy ending to Pamela's story highlights one of the reasons it is important for Aggies to keep their contact information up to date at Find An Aggie, The Association's online directory of former students. 

If your Aggie Ring were lost and found, would anyone be able to contact you to return it?

To see the information currently on your record, log in and go to AggieNetwork.com/profile/aggie.aspx. Click the "edit" button next to "Contact Information" to update your record (you must be logged in).

While on the edit screen, you can also click "edit privacy" to control the visibility of each piece of your contact information. For example, you could set your phone number to be visible to anyone, visible to no one, or visible only to verified Aggies.

The Association has countless stories of Aggie Rings that were successfully returned to the Aggies who earned and treasured them, but we also have stories of Aggie Rings that couldn't be returned, or for which the reunion was delayed weeks, months or even years while we tried to find the owner. 

We hope you never lose your Aggie Ring, but in case you do, improve the chances of your story having a happy ending by updating your contact information today. 

In the unfortunate case that you do lose your Aggie Ring, we've got a simple online form where you can let us know: tx.ag/LostFoundRing. You can use that same link to let us know if you've found someone else's Aggie Ring.