At some point in 1968 or 1969, Wilson Kenneth Ohl lost his Townville High School, Crawford County, class ring.

On Oct. 9, William Huss found it.

Huss, a Hollsopple, Somerset County, resident, said he was using his metal detector to search near the Johnstown Hiram G. Andrews Center grounds when his device showed that there was an object about 8 inches below the surface.

“I decided to dig. It was in a hunk of mud, and when I cleaned it off, I found it was a high school ring,” Huss said.

Huss said he was able to see the initials “WKO” inscribed inside the ring, so he called the Townville School District office to see whether someone could help him return the ring to its owner.

Ohl died in 2013, but someone from the school district was able to get in contact with the Ohl family to tell them about Huss’ find.

Lisa Ohl, Wilson’s daughter, said she hadn’t known the ring existed. She said her initial reaction was disbelief.

However, she called Huss and told him that she thought he’d found her father’s class ring.

Huss said that when Lisa called, he could hear her voice shaking.

“I asked her to describe the ring and she said that her father graduated from Townville High School in 1968 and his name was Wilson Kenneth Ohl. She also said that he met his wife there at the (Hiram G. Andrews) center,” Huss said.

Lisa said that the find was even more special because the day after Huss found the ring would have been her parents’ 47th wedding anniversary.

“It was kind of like Dad was looking out for Mom. It’s unbelievable, the timing of it,” Lisa said.

The find was special for Huss, too, because he said that, since he started metal detecting two years ago, his dream was to find a ring like this.

“I can cross that off my bucket list now,” he said.

The Ohl family lives in Franklin, Venago County. On Oct. 28, the family and Huss met about halfway between Hollsopple and Franklin at the Punxsutawney Memorial Library to return the ring.

Lisa said her mother, Cheryl, was speechless and in shock the whole time.

“All she could do was smile,” Lisa said.

Lisa said Huss was as ecstatic for the return as her family was.

“(Huss) is such a friendly person, and the fact that he took the time to try to find the owner of the ring, that amazed us. I don’t think we could have had a better interaction,” Lisa said.

Huss said that it was the best feeling in the world to reconnect someone with their family’s history.

As for the ring, Lisa said that her mother hasn’t let anyone else touch it since Huss returned it.