ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC)- Who do you know with the initials W.N.B? If those letters ring a bell, you might be able to help a local “treasure hunter” reunite them with their 1951 McMurry senior class ring – a treasure Dawn Boyles found in the muck and mud out at Lake Fort Phantom Hill.
“I get off work…I’ll come to the lake and just relax…Me and my grandson haze we love to look for things…One day we seen something shiny, so we’re kind of looking, and it’s stuck in between like mud and a rock so we reach down and we find a ring,” Boyles said.
Though she says it was quite tarnished and covered in mud, upon cleaning it up, they were able to make out a few inscriptions. The ring’s owner either obtained a Bachelor of Science or attended the School of Business at McMurry University in 1951. The inner band of the ring holds the letters W.N.B.
“I was like ‘oh wow – you can see words and everything’, so we’re like okay. . . this has got to be something that’s important to somebody,” said Boyles.
Boyles posted the ring to Facebook hoping to connect with its owner or at least their family, as they would likely be in their 90s today. Finding no help there – she reached out to the university.
“The discovery of the old class ring is a very unique experience to happen to my department, but certainly the university,” said Senior Marketing Content Specialist Christopher Bartlett.
Bartlett began research immediately, digging through archives and cross-referencing for the initials. Throughout the school’s history in the 1950s, only one name and one face returned.
“I was able to look through old yearbooks and find a gentleman who has those same initials thereabouts and was graduated from the class of 1951,” said Bartlett.
The class picture of Mr. Winifred Bollinger, originally of Roscoe, is the only lead thus far. But with no next of kin to reach out to, the trail has gone cold.
“You study really hard for something that you’re gonna work the rest of your life for. It means something to that person,” Boyles said.
Both Boyles and Bartlett are hopeful that someone out there knows W.N.B., saying that reunion would bring a happy conclusion to this chance encounter that’s been 7 decades in the making.
“Even just to find the family, it would mean the world to me for them to have that…To find out really how it ended up in Fort Phantom at that. I mean I’m always gonna wonder,” said Boyles.
If you have any information that may lead to the ring’s original owner, please contact the McMurry media line by phone at (325)225-3435 or (325)260-3963. You can also reach them by Email at ocheltree.nick@mcm.edu.
If the owner of the ring cannot be found, Bartlett said the Boyles will have the decision to donate it to the McMurry Campus Museum located inside Old Main.