Husband’s Class Ring Lost in Maine in 1973 Is Found in Finland 47 Years Later and Returned to His Widow

In 1973, a smitten Shawn McKenna gave his girlfriend Debra his gold class ring to wear as a symbol of his devotion. Unfortunately, the ring was too big and when she went to wash her hands at a Portland, Maine department store, she took it off and walked away without it. She went back to the bathroom to retrieve it but it was gone.

Debra McKenna was 16 years old in 1973 when her high school sweetheart gifted her his gold class ring. Just a month later, she took off the ring to wash her hands, and next thing she knew, it was gone.

Debra was understandably upset, but Shawn shrugged it off, saying that it was only a ring. The two got married in 1977, built a life and a family together until Shawn passed away in 2017. Three years after Shawn’s death, a Finnish metal worker named Marko Saarinen went out into the Kaarina forest to do a bit of treasure hunting with a metal detector and located Shawn’s lost ring. He contacted the Morse High School Alumni Association and asked them to help him find to whom the ring belonged. They found Debra and returned the ring to her on Valentine’s Day, 2020.

Debra McKenna told told the Bangor Daily News that she was touched by the effort to return the ring and believed its return was a sign from her late husband.

There was a lot of weeping when I learned that someone found it and made the effort to reach out and find me… He’s telling me to get my act together. To get going with the rest of my life. …It’s very touching in this world of negativity, to have decent people step forward and make an effort.” McKenna said. …There are good people in the world, and we need more of them.