An unbelievable story, with just a ring of truth

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — Maybe this story does not have a moral, but a former Glen Ridge resident has been reunited with a signet ring that flew off his finger 40 years ago and landed somewhere in a Cambridge Road backyard in Glen Ridge.

The ring was found by another former Glen Ridge resident, now living in Bloomfield. This person’s name is Michael Claps, and he is a 1980 graduate of Glen Ridge High School. He told his side of the story last week at a Broad Street diner counter.

“About nine years ago, I am at my parents’ house in Glen Ridge,” Claps began. “They were in Europe and I was watering the plants when the doorbell rang.”
There was a late 50-ish man at the door.

“He introduced himself and said, ‘I use to live in this house. I’m Jeff Griffin,’” Claps said, adding that he remembered the name.

Griffin told him that he was in town for a high-school reunion. Even though Griffin had not graduated from GRHS, he still had friends in town. Griffin lived in California.
He told Claps that he just wanted to take a look around the old home. Claps invited him in.
“We had done a lot of renovation,” Claps said. “I gave him a little tour.”

But Griffin did not come for a tour of the house.
“He asked me to come outside and said ‘You’re going to think I’m crazy,’” Claps said. “He told me he was wrestling with his brother around 1972 and a ring flew off his finger. It was his grandfather’s or father’s ring. He thought it went into the pachysandras.”

Claps told Griffin he had a metal detector at home, and the two set off for Collins Avenue, Bloomfield, where Claps lives.

“We drove to my house to get the detector,” Claps said. “It didn’t work.”

Claps explained, in the interview at the diner, that the detector was on Craig’s List for free in 2005. He had never used it.

Griffin had to leave, but Claps told him that he would never forget the ring; that he would find it. That was nine years ago.

Last year, a Glen Ridge friend told him he had received a metal detector for Christmas. Claps told his friend about Griffin. With the detector, the two of them went searching for the missing ring.

“We looked in the pachysandras,”
Claps said. “We only found a dumbbell weight and part of an alarm clock. I really thought it was a lost cause.”

So, with the most likely place eliminated, they started looking around the yard. They found a coin. Then the friend said he had to go and pick up his daughter.
“Just before he had to leave, we heard the beeping,” Claps said. “So we dug there. I didn’t expect it to be the ring. I thought it was in the pachysandras.”

They could hardly believe what they found. Under 4 inches of earth was a signet ring, inscribed with the same initials as the one that flew off Griffin’s finger 40 years ago! Claps was thrilled. He had to tell Griffin, but he had to find him first. The phone number and email Griffin had given him eight years ago had been changed.

“I couldn’t get through to him,” Claps said. “But my mother remembered Jeff’s sister, Mindy, dated a guy from the high school.”
Claps did not know the former boyfriend but he did know his brother, a classmate. By way of this friend, Claps learned that Mindy was on Facebook.
“I contacted her and sent her a photo of the ring,” he said.

From Facebook: “Hi Mary. This is Michael Claps from 11 Cambridge Rd in Glen Ridge. We moved into the house after you. I met your brother Jeff about 8 years ago and have some good news for him. The email and phone number he gave me don’t seem to be working,” Claps wrote.

He told her about the ring.
From Facebook: “Mike, hi! What a great story and I vaguely recall Jeff’s attempt to find the ring. We loved 11 Cambridge. Hope your family did as well. Cheers, Mike! And a Big thank you. Mindy. Jeff will be thrilled,” Mindy wrote.

From Facebook: “Thanks Mary! I’ll contact Jeff today. My parents still live at 11 Cambridge and my dad grew up on Ardsley 2 blocks away!” Claps wrote.

From Facebook: “Hi Mike, were you able to connect with Jeff?” Mindy wrote.
From Facebook: “Yes. He was very excited to see the ring again after all these years. We spoke for quite a while – nice to talk to him again. He told me to mail the ring to him and gave me his address,” Claps wrote.

From Facebook: “Great. Thanks. A great story. I think the ring originally belonged to my grandfather. You didn’t happen to find my three gold bars? Haha! Take care,” Mindy wrote.

From Facebook: “Haha no but my sister now wants me to look for an earring she lost about 30 years ago in the front of the house,” Claps wrote.
From Facebook: “Ok. Great, do it. But any found coins are mine. Lol,” Mindy wrote.

Claps mailed the ring to Griffin.
“He told me to put it in regular mail,” Claps said. “I felt thrilled for him. He never forgot about that ring.

Now for Griffin’s side of the story, related in a telephone interview earlier this week. He lives in Sonora, Calif. He said he was about 14 years old when he and his brother were horsing around in the Cambridge Road backyard.
“It was a year before we moved,” he said. “It was a signet ring that belonged to my father. I think it came from his grandfather. I coveted it. Swoosh, it came off my finger. I looked for it. I was broken hearted.”

During the ensuing 30 years, he returned to Glen Ridge, mostly for reunions, he said. On two trips, in 1997 and 2007, he returned to his old home.

“In 1997, I met with the parents,” he said. “They were sweet. I told them my story and looked over the yard, if they had done any landscaping.”

For his second trip to the Cambridge Road backyard, in 2007, he called to rent a metal detector.

“Mike Clap shows up,” he said. “He was taking care of the house. I didn’t know him. I tell him my story and he’s very helpful. He had a detector but it doesn’t work. I got that close. I was bummed out. He tells me he wouldn’t forget,” Griffin said with a laugh.

About nine years later, Claps gave him the call to tell him something unbelievable.
“The whole story is too much,” Griffin said. “It laid there for 40 years under 3 inches of soil. It didn’t get chopped up from a mower. I never gave up. I eventually got my finger on it. I still trip on the whole experience and getting my head around it.”

Griffin said he once saw a picture of his father, in a military uniform. He’s a second lieutenant and has the signet ring on his finger. End of story.