SAN ANTONIO — A San Antonio woman is spending her Christmas wearing her Southside High School class ring again after it was stolen from her family home more than 18 years ago, and now she’s hoping to pay it forward.
On Saturday afternoon, a Southside ISD official met with Norah Costantino at her alma mater to present her with the ring. After ripping off the Christmas-themed paper her ring was wrapped in, tears fell from Costantino’s eyes.
“Oh my gosh. It’s so dainty. It doesn’t fit but this is amazing. Oh my gosh,” said Costantino.
Costantino picked a gold band with a ruby-colored gem to mark her graduation from high school in 1989. She said thieves stole the ring 14 years later after burglarizing her family’s home in 2003. Not only did they escape with her class band, but they took off with another ring gifted to Costantino from her mother before her passing a few months earlier.
“It was heartbreaking, you know, having lost my mom and then having lost the pieces of jewelry,” she said.
Years of wondering finally came to an end in early December after a bank teller in Abilene contacted the school district to let them know they had the ring. Costantino said the bank originally found it in coin machine then left it in the lost and found for a few years. Through the power of social media, the school district found Costantino 30 minutes after posting it online.
“To be able to get something like this back is just incredible. I can’t thank everyone enough, especially that lady in Abilene,” said Costantino.
Now she wants to help someone else reunite with their class ring.
“My parents bought a motorhome before they passed and when they were cleaning it out there was a graduation ring in there, and I still have it. I like to see if we can get that going to the next person,” said she.
The band is a Devine High School ring from 1988. It’s silver with a solid purple gemstone and has the school’s mascot engraved on one side.