“I will be seeing him soon to personally hand him the ring," Nancy Tinsley said. "I think I'm about as excited as he is.”
PANAMA CITY — For over 30 years, Panama City resident Dean Ezzell’s right hand has been missing a sentimental piece: his class ring.
“The ring was from my mom and dad and is irreplaceable,” he said.
Ezzell lost the 1981 Bay High School class ring after attending a Gulf Coast Community College fraternity bonfire in the early 1980s. It was recovered later that decade, but it would be more than 35 years before he was reunited with the ring.
The ring — engraved with a person holding a tennis racket and a tornado — was recovered in the late 1980s by Ed Tinsley. His daughter-in-law, Nancy Tinsley, said she believes her father-in-law found the ring in Daytona because he and his wife visited the city several times a year. But the Resaca, Ga., resident has no way of knowing for sure because her father-in-law died before she could ask.
“I asked him if I could take the ring and see if I could find the owner, so he handed the ring to me and it has been in my possession now ever since,” she said.
A thorough inspection of the ring, using a magnifying glass, revealed it belonged to a person with the first or last name of “Dean,” which was etched inside the ring, Tinsley said.
The first thing she did was search for the “Dean” who might have owned the ring. She called Bay High School and asked for help locating the mystery person, and she was given the phone number of a possible match.
“They gave me a number of a Dean, and I called him, but he had not lost a ring so it was a dead end. I threw the ring back in the drawer and forgot about it,” she said.
However, after seeing someone else contact a school via Facebook, Tinsley decided to reach out to the Bay High School through the social giant. She messaged a picture of the silver ring and a description stating, “I would absolutely love to find the owner of this ring. Can anybody at Bay High help me? Thank you."
Kelly Efstathiou of Bay High School posted the photos and information on the school’s Facebook page earlier this month. That one post sent locals into a tizzy, as people scrambled to identify the owner.
“I think it’s Dean Ezzel,” one Facebook response read. Another response stated: “We played tennis together at jinks he kept playing at bay.”
“Several people started sharing, commenting and tagging others, and the owner was found in less than 24 hours," Efstathiou said. "I'm ecstatic that we were able to help find the owner.”
The marketing and TV production teacher also was delighted to witness the influence of social media.
“I do want to say that it’s nice to know that people actually took the time to share or tag leads in hopes of finding the owner," she said. "Imagine if everyone did that with a missing person post. Just goes to show how powerful social media is.”
Efstathiou wasn't the only person excited about the find.
"The first thing I thought when I heard my ring had been found is that God is still performing miracles, today," Ezzell said.
“I am very grateful for all the time and hard work that Nancy Tinsley put into finding me. It really means a lot to me. I am truly grateful that God put my ring in Nancy's hands, knowing that she would accomplish the great task of locating me. ”
Tinsley and Ezzell are working on plans to deliver the ring.
“I will be seeing him soon to personally hand him the ring," Tinsley said. "I think I'm about as excited as he is.”
Ezzell already has plans to wear the ring when it arrives.
"I do intend to wear the ring as a constant reminder that God is always with us," he said.