Earlier this year, Paul Raymond was vacationing in Maztlan, Mexico, with a friend. Over the course of 10 days, the metal-detecting hobbyist found 12 rings, two silver bracelets, one gold chain, and $38 worth of pesos. In this haul: a Baruch College class ring from 1972. “I found the ring on Rock Island in about 6 feet of water about a foot down,” Raymond recalls. “The class ring was special, and I knew the College would be able to track down its owner [because of the ring’s inscription].”
So Raymond, retired from two careers—first as the owner of a welding business for 30 years and then as the owner/operator of an RV campground in Lebanon, New Hampshire, for 10—contacted the College. Then he mailed the ring back to Baruch, which is in the process of getting it into the hands of—and preferably on the ring finger of—owner/alumnus Thomas Bolger (’72), who lives in Texas.
“Thrilled by the adventure of finding relics and rings, bracelets and gold chains,” Raymond has been embarking on modern-day treasure-hunting excursions for the past 15 years. Of the Baruch class ring, he says, “It has had such a great journey already, and I’m glad to have been part of it.”
—Diane Harrigan
Other items found by this Good Samaritan on the next page.