Messenger - Vol. 1, No. 1, Page 18 Fall 1991 Alumni Profile; Lost for 39 years, ring still has class William E. Hart, Delaware '51, has led an eventful life, but his University class ring has a story or two to tell as well. An ROTC member with a civil engineering degree, Hart spent two years in the U.S. Army. Later, he worked for 32 years with the Naval Oceanographic Office, mapping ocean floors. After traversing every continent and ocean over a 32-year career, he retired as director of the office's bathymetric division. His two children grew up listening to his stories. Now, he has a new story for his grandchildren. In 1952, Hart lost his University of Delaware class ring. At the time, he was a second lieutenant stationed in Pittsburgh with the 708 AAA Gun Battalion. It was winter, cold, wet and very muddy. The first order of business was to "dig in" to the hillside where the battalion was to live. "Because it was cold and wet, even the officers were working and digging," he recalls. "I remember I was digging a foundation for one of the buildings and my fingers were so numb my ring just flew off my hand into the mud." Hart and his men searched the area for the ring. The mud made the search a lost cause. "Eventually," Hart remembers, "we poured cement over it and I thought I'd never see it again." Miraculously, the ring was found in August, 1990, at Moore Field, a park near Pittsburgh, by J.L. Dielsi, a retired teacher. Dielsi recalls the blue glass reflecting the sun's rays. He cleaned the ring and took it to the park's lost-and-found department. But no one claimed it. "I knew somebody would probably like to have the ring. I would appreciate it if someone returned something I had lost." Hoping the owner could be traced from the initials engraved inside the ring, Dielsi mailed the ring to the University of Delaware. Office of Alumni Relations secretary Patricia Wolfe combed the alumni directory for a "W.E.H." in the Class of 1951. When Hart received a telephone call asking him if he lost his class ring, he could not believe it. "I was amazed that it had been found. I told a lot of people about it," recalls the Pass Christian, Miss., resident. "It's in good condition and I'm wearing it now after 39 years." When Dielsi was told Hart`s story, he said he was pleased that the ring had been reunited with its owner. "College is something in your life that you have achieved. You really like to have and wear (a ring) and be proud of it," he said. There is some mystery how the ring came to Moore Field. Hart does not remember ever being at the park. Maybe someone else found the ring and dropped it there. No one will ever know. "I'm glad the owner was found. Things like this mean more to a person as they get older," Dielsi says. "Miracles come up in life." --Brook Williams, Delaware '91