“Yes, that’s my mother’s ring,” joyfully exclaimed Margaret Love Boehning when she heard that someone 1,000 miles away from her home in North Carolina had found the cherished family heirloom. Thanks to the efforts of Adelphi University and the woman in Maine who found the Adelphi class ring, it found its way back to the Boehning family.
On October 30, 2023, the Adelphi University social media team received a message on Facebook:
“Hoping the university can help me. I found a class ring that had washed up on a beach in Maine from 1971 with a name engraved on it and a light blue ribbon tied to it. I’d like to locate the family or at least find out who it belonged to.”
The message was forwarded to an alumni relations staff member, who identified the owner of the ring as Ruth Boehning MS ’71 and initiated the search to find the ring’s owner. Sadly, she discovered that Ruth had passed away in 2015, but she was able to reach Margaret, Ruth’s eldest daughter.
“Amy Harrison [executive director of gift planning and donor relations] contacted me on social media,” said Margaret, who then reached out to the person in Maine to retrieve the ring and thank her for her efforts.
A Lifelong Educator
Margaret also shared some fond memories of her mother during conversations with Adelphi’s alumni relations team. She notes that Ruth hailed from a family of educators, including her mother and an aunt, and had dedicated four decades of her life to teaching.
She began her career in the late 1960s in the basement of the United Methodist Church of Islip, New York, working with children with disabilities. After earning a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Adelphi Suffolk College and a master’s in elementary education from Adelphi University in 1971, she continued her teaching journey.
“I can still hear her reciting Latin,” reminisced Margaret. Ruth continued to teach in Central Islip before relocating to North Carolina, and worked there in the Rutherfordton and Tryon school districts. She also found time to tutor adults, significantly impacting their employment prospects.
“There was a man who struggled with dyslexia, and my mother helped him earn his Class C license so he could drive,” Margaret recalled.
Margaret received her mother’s ring in early November and is overjoyed.
“It proves to me that synchronicity works,” Margaret said. “That there is something out there.”