FERGUSON, Iowa — It was 1960 — the last year for the Ferguson School. Chuck Finders took his girlfriend, Darlys to the school, as he and a group of boys planned a sandlot football game.

“We girlfriends would come and sit and watch the boys play on Sunday afternoons,” said Darlys.

She and Chuck had exchanged class rings. She wore his, while hers was too small for his finger, so he wore it on a chain, even while playing football.

“Obviously, the chain broke, and I’m out there on my hands and knees going through the grass looking for that ring.”

The ring, however, was not to be found. Chuck and Darlys married, had kids, grandkids, and now have 15 great-grandkids.

Still, Darlys didn’t give up. She prayed to God that one day she would find that ring. Each time she saw someone near the school with a metal detector, she would stop and share her ring story.

“I’d talk to them, tell them the general area where we thought it was lost,” said Darlys. “Over that time, 62 years, never found it.”

That was until September 15, 2023. A man named Trent Banks was there with a metal detector. She, again, shared the same story. Without thinking, she gave Banks her phone number and went home.

Then, the phone rang.

“I almost didn’t pick it up, it was a number I didn’t recognize,” said Darlys. But, she picked up the phone and the good news came — her ring was found.

She wanted to give Banks some reward money, but he refused, saying it was more than enough for him to be able to give it back to her.

Darlys said her Pastor, Darren Young, calls it ‘The Miracle on Main Street,’ because the ring was found away from the field and near the town’s main street.