A one hundred year old Chillicothe High School class ring is set to be returned to its original owner's remaining family after being found in a local antique shop.
JoAnn White is the former owner of The Cellar Room antique shop, which closed its doors about 5 years ago.
"The basement is quite large, going back several rooms," said White. "I found a box back there that had a bunch of little stuff in it. I went through it bit by bit and this little ring was in there. It was a gold ring that just said CHS on the top and on the side it read 1918. On the inside were the initials M.C."
JoAnn says she found the 1918 class ring about 5 years prior to the shop's closing, and after ten years of working to research its owner, it's now ready to be returned to the family.
"About ten years ago when I found it, I contacted the Ross County Historical Society to see if they had a 1918 Chillicothe High School year book, and they did," said White. "They found one girl in that class with the initials M.C., and that was Marie Capretta."
After obtaining the name of the ring's original owner, JoAnn says she then began tracking down Marie Capretta's remaining family.
"Bit by bit, I found out she was related to Ruth Neal, who is the mother of Ross County Commissioner Steve Neal," said White. "I know Sue Ott, who is also a Neal, so I contacted her and said she was welcome to have the ring. Sue asked how much I wanted for the ring and I said that I wanted nothing for it... I wanted her to have it."
JoAnn says the ring will be returned to Capretta's family this week.