"More Than Yesterday—Less Than Tomorrow"

A Ring Story

The Class of 1963 is participating in the Bonds of Gold program that is part of the Link in the Chain series of activities that cements ties between a class and the one that follows fifty years later, in our case the Class of 2013, now in the latter stages of their “Youngster” (second) year at the Naval Academy. The Bonds of Gold program invites classmates of the senior class to donate the gold from their class rings and miniature rings to be melted down and incorporated into the rings of the Class of 2013 forming an indelible bond between the two classes separated by fifty years. Ring donors are invited to attend a moving ceremony held in Memorial Hall late in April at which the history of service of the person who wore the ring is recounted and the ring formally given to and accepted by the junior class to be incorporated into their rings.

In the effort to recruit rings for the Bonds of Gold program, a letter from the class president, Spencer Johnson, was sent to each widow in the class with the details of the program and the thought that, after careful and deliberate consultation with her children and other family members, she might wish to donate the ring of her spouse. The letter sent noted that the first ring to be included in the program was a Class of 1963 miniature found at Baptist Hospital of Pensacola, Florida. The ring was found in December, 2009, in a box destined for the dumpster. The box had been in a storage room for over six years since hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola in 2004. The person who found the ring recognized it as similar to one worn by Caroline Kelly (wife of Admiral Robert Kelly USN (Ret) Class of 1959) who was a member of the Women’s Board of the Baptist Health Care Foundation. The ring was turned over to Caroline and thus the 14 month search began. Months passed and The initials in the ring, MTY-LTT could not be correlated to any patient of record or other local personage in Pensacola. At the same time others Were helping in the search; the Class of1963, The USNA Alumni Association’s Ring Bank’s Bobbi Collins and a myriad of other people--- all to no avail. At the suggestion of Caroline Kelly, the hospital agreed to donate the ring to the Class of 1963 Bonds of Gold program. Since the settings of rings donated are removed prior to the ring being melted down, the seven diamonds that comprised the setting of the ring were donated to the hospital’s charitable fund. In mid- November, 2010 Caroline and Bob Kelly delivered the ring to Annapolis for inclusion in the Bonds of Gold program.

Shortly after the letters of solicitation for rings went out to the class widows, Spencer Johnson received an e-mail from Polly King. Her husband, Captain George L King, USN, passed away in 1989 while stationed in Pensacola. Polly still resides in Pensacola.. Her e-mail stated that she thought the miniature described in the letter was her ring. The next day, Spencer Johnson called her and verified that the ring was indeed hers and would be returned to her with all dispatch. Polly said the initials; MTY-LTT did not refer to a person, but rather to a sentiment, “More Than Yesterday, Less Than Tomorrow” words George King chose to describe his depth of love for Polly. Spencer also told her that the bad news was that he did not have the diamonds that formed the setting of her ring since they were donated to the hospital. Nonetheless, Polly was delighted, indeed overjoyed, at the thought that her engagement ring, lost for seven years would soon be on her finger again. She closed the conversation by noting that it was also St. Valentine’s Day, a perfect day to get this unexpected but most welcomed news.

Spencer Johnson also sent an e-mail to Caroline Kelly asking if there were anyway that the diamonds from the ring could be recovered. Caroline immediately called Rick Bryson, the jeweler who had dismantled the ring and remitted the value of the diamonds to the hospital and found that indeed he still had them. In exchange for the check paid to the hospital for the diamonds, he immediately returned them to Caroline Kelly. Spencer Johnson was able to call Polly King and tell her that we now had her diamonds as well as the ring and that her ring could soon be reassembled exactly as it was when given to her almost fifty years ago.

The ring has been repaired and is back on Polly’s hand. Polly and Caroline have become good friends thanks to the perfect ending to this incredible story.