Sitting at his desk at Kemco Aluminum in Warrenton, Leroy Meyer is happy that his Montgomery County High School Class of 1965 ring is back on his finger.

“It’s kind of neat,” the Jonesburg resident said.

Four years ago, Meyer got his ring back after not seeing it for 48 years. But it had to take him 160 miles to get it back.

Meyer received his ring from Ohio resident Jim Schuermann during a visit in Effingham, Ill., in January 2017. Almost 50 years before, while serving in the Navy, Meyer asked Schuermann to get the ring out of a pawn shop in Japan and mail it back to him.

But there was a problem.

“He didn’t know my address,” Meyer said. “He didn't know where to send it.”

After graduating from MCHS, Meyer enlisted into the Navy and was assigned to USS Ajax. Running out of money, Meyer sold his high school ring and an initial ring he received from his mother at the pawn shop. But Meyer decided to go to Vietnam with his Navy friend George Timko, making it unlikely that he would return to Japan and get his rings back.

So Meyer contacted Schuermann, who was then a sailor, to help out.

“The reason I gave it to this guy was because he didn’t drink like I did,” Meyer said. “I figured he will go get them out of the pawn shop and send it back to me. I know that a lot of the guys I hung out with would put it back in there, get the money and end up spending my money.”

When Meyer returned home to Montgomery County in 1969, he found out that Schuermann never mailed his rings back.

“I’m the one who hocked it and I expected him to get it for me at the time,” Meyer said. “But after I didn’t get it, it crossed my mind a lot of different times to try to figure out how to find that guy. I'd like to have found him. I was upset about it. But he didn’t do anything wrong.”

Meyer said even though he didn’t get his rings back, he just wanted to continue on with his life. He got married and had two children, Jason and Keith. In 1979, he started working at Kemco Aluminum, where he is a part owner.

“A ring doesn’t slow down your life other than two kids,” Meyer said.

Schuermann didn’t give away Meyer’s rings. He stored them with his Navy items until he decided to track down Meyer and give them back to him.

First, Schuermann checked the Montgomery County R-I School District to find out if there was a student named August Meyer who graduated from the high school in 1965. August is Meyer’s original first name.

“He called up there and they said we don’t have an August Meyer graduating in 1965,” Meyer said.

“Joe Garrett, who was the school teacher up there at the time, said he betted that it's Leroy because he rode up to Jonesburg and he knew me. I’ve known him since he was a little kid. He’s younger than I am, but our families are kind of close.”

Schuermann later received Meyer’s phone number from Garrett. Then, Schuermann called Meyer, letting him know that he has both of his rings.

“After we talked, I met him in Effingham three or four days later,” Meyer said. “We had dinner, got my rings, visited for a while and went back home.”

Meyer tried on his high school ring in several different fingers before he finally got it to fit in his right ring finger on Sept. 21, just four days before his MCHS Class of 1965 reunion in Jonesburg.

“It fits fine,” Meyer said. “I can take it off if I want to.”