MHS graduate reunited with class ring after 30 years

     After 34 years, a Monticello High School graduate was reunited with his senior class ring.

     Mike Barney, Class of 1984, lost his class ring when he stopped at a convenience store in Newton, Iowa. He was on his way to Monticello from Des Moines at the time. He took his ring off, as well as his Army ring, and set them both down on the side of the sink as he washed his hands.

     A few miles down the highway, Barney realized he left his rings in the restroom at the convenience store. He turned around and drove back to retrieve them, but they were gone.

     “I drove not even a mile down the road, went back and the rings were gone,” recalled Barney. “It was that quick. I don’t know what happened.”

     Six weeks later, Barney was able to get a replacement Army ring after contacting Fort McClellan in Alabama.

     “They sent me a duplicate,” he said.

     But he assumed his MHS class ring was never to be seen again…

     …Until last week.

     Barney heard from his nephew, Bret Barney (MHS Class of 2008), with news about his class ring. A friend of Bret’s whose mom (Kim Ralston) works for the Monticello School District took a call from a man from Newton who said he found a MHS class ring with the initials “MSB” and the graduation year 1984 on it. It didn’t take long for someone to research the graduates from that year and Mike Barney was only one with those initials.

     Ralston didn’t know how to get in touch with Mike, so she reached out to his nephew, providing his with the man’s name, contact information, and description of the ring. The man, Craig Dawson, lives in Newton and found the ring in 1990 when he was hired to demolish the gas station Barney stopped at just a few years prior.

     After years away, Dawson moved back to Newton and was going through his possessions when he found the long-lost ring again. After holding on to the ring for 30 years, Dawson decided to finally find the owner.

     Barney said while his class ring isn’t worth any extraordinary amount of money, it’s the sentimental value that it still holds all these years later.

     “It really means a lot,” he said of Dawson attempting to locate the owner of the ring.

     Having lost the ring only a couple of years after he graduated from high school, and found a few years later, Barney said the ring was still in good condition.

     “I asked Craig if he wanted a finder’s fee, but he said he just wanted to get it back in the hands of the owner,” Barney shared. So, the two met up on Aug. 15 for lunch in Williamsburg, and shared their life’s story.

     Barney resides in North Liberty now with his family. After two decades in law enforcement, he has plans to retire from the Coralville Police Department in the not-too-distant future.

     Barney spent six years serving in the Iowa National Guard. Two and half of those years were with the military police; three and a half with the infantry battalion.

     Barney and Dawson have a lot in common than both ever thought. Both men were involved in near-death motorcycle accidents. Both recovered at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Both had the same surgeon and nurses.

     “We’re brothers from another mother,” joked Barney. “It’s a small world.”

     After Barney shared his story on Facebook about being reunited with his class ring, the Monticello school shared the post as well. From there, it went viral, as they say.

     “I was surprised by the comments on Facebook,” said Barney.

     As Barney recuperates from a recent surgery stemming from his motorcycle accident 15 years ago, it’s bittersweet to share a story like this.

     “I thought after 30-plus year, I’d never see my ring again,” he said.