By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The 1961 class ring of Mount Healthy resident Bill Naderman (left), which he lost 40 years ago, was found and returned to him last week by Metropolitan Sewer District worker Doug Coyne. (Submitted photo) | ZOOM |

A Mount Healthy High School graduate and his 1961 class ring have been reunited more than 40 years after the day it was lost.

Bill Naderman, who attended Mount Healthy High School from 1958 to 1961, lost the ring during his senior year. Naderman, 60, a native of Mount Healthy who owns a barbershop there, said his recollection was a little fuzzy, but he figured he lost the ring while playing horseshoes.

"I was stunned," Naderman said of getting his ring back. "After 40 years, I just couldn't believe it."

Last fall, Doug Coyne, who works for the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati, found the ring while cleaning sewers in the Mount Healthy area. The ring was corroded and covered in grit, so Coyne took it home and soaked it in his wife's jewelry cleaner.

Coyne said he forgot about the ring for three months before rediscovering it last week. He said that after cleaning it, he found out that it was a "Mount Healthy Class of 1961" ring with the initials "BN."

Coyne said he called the high school's office for help in locating the owner. He was referred to the 1961 class reunion organizer, who researched the initials "BN" and determined that it could belong only to Naderman.

The two met last Thursday at Naderman's barbershop on Hamilton Avenue in Mount Healthy, where Coyne gave him back his long lost ring.

Naderman said his parents paid about $25 for the ring, which was a lot of money back in the 1960s.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com