Until recently, Port Aransas resident Heidi Hagan hadn’t seen her high school class ring since it was lost in a lake shortly after she graduated nearly 30 years ago. It was found after the lake, in Fort Worth, was drained.
It’s been nearly 30 years since Port Aransas resident Heidi Hagan’s high school graduation ring was lost in a North Texas swimming hole, but recently it was found.
“I still can’t believe it,” she said. “I have slept a lot since then.”
It was lost in the summer of 1989.
That year, Madonna’s song Like a Prayer just had been released, the film Driving Miss Daisy was in theaters nationwide and Mikhail Gorbachev was Time Magazine’s Man of the Year.
That was when Hagan just had graduated from high school.
That summer in Fort Worth, temperatures were hot as it normally is during those months.
Many youngsters lounged and splashed around in a large, sandy bottomed spring,-fed pool called Burger’s Lake. Hagan was one of them.
A shaggy-haired lifeguard manned one of the many stands around Burger’s Lake. He wore bright swimming trunks and sunglasses as he surveyed swimmers.
Courtesy photos
He was Hagan’s boyfriend at the time.
He also wore her Azle High School class ring on a necklace around his neck at all times.
Until it disappeared.
The ring had a gold band with a green-colored stone to represent the colors worn by the fighting Hornets of Azle High.
On one side of the ring was a cheerleading megaphone, since Hagan was a Hornet cheerleader. The other side of the ring had the year ’89 on it.
Inside the ring, Hagan’s name was engraved in cursive. Her mom initially didn’t want to pay extra for the inscription, but ultimately decided to do it since the ring was such a big deal to Hagan.
One summer day, that lifeguard jumped into Burger’s Lake.
When the lifeguard came up from the water, his necklace was gone, and so was the ring.
“He went in for a save, and the necklace broke,” Hagan said. “We searched with metal detectors and never could find it.”
“I was so upset, and so was my mother,” she said.
An inscription is seen on a ring owned by Heidi Hagan of Port Aransas. The ring was lost in a Fort Worth lake for 29 years before being found earlier this month. Courtesy photo
Fast forward to 2018, and Hagan no longer was dating the lifeguard, and she no longer lived in North Texas.
She moved in 2010 to Port Aransas, where she works as a hair stylist.
She hadn’t given much thought to her high school ring in recent years. It had been gone for nearly three decades.
While she knew where it was lost, she never thought she would see it again.
At the end of every summer, the owners of Burger’s Lake drain the water. Each year they find a number of rings and watches, said Sharon Mahan, owner.
A log is kept at the pool listing the names of people who have reported losing items there. The log is kept in case their possessions are found some day.
Mahan actually was looking for a woman’s wedding ring when she came across Hagan’s ring lying on top of the sand.
Mahan said she knows many people from Azle, and when she didn’t see Hagan’s name on the list, she took pictures of the ring and posted them on Facebook on Wednesday, Oct. 3, since Hagan’s name was not listed in the logs kept at the pool.
Mahan wrote, “Any of my Azle friends know a Heidi Hogan who graduated in ‘89? I found her class ring at Burgers Lake today and would like to return it to her. Please share.”
And shared it was.
Nearly 4,000 Facebook users shared her post. Many commenters tagged and messaged Hagan. Others texted and called her.
One person commented, “Looks like it could be Heidi Hagan, not Hogan.”
Friends from Port Aransas, some from Azle and others from all corners of the country were contacting Hagan.
“There’s still people contacting me through Facebook about the ring, and I have no idea who they even are,” Hagan said.
On Oct. 3, Hagan messaged Mahan and asked her about what she had found.
Mahan asked Hagan, “When was the last time you were at Burger’s Lake?”
Hagan replied, “Probably right after high school in 1989.”
Within two hours of Hagan and Mahan’s Facebook chat, Mahan delivered the ring to Hagan’s mother, who still lives in the Fort Worth area.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Hagan said. “I couldn’t even remember exactly what it looked like.”
Hagan said she was extremely happy to get the ring back.
She said that her mom said nothing had changed. It looked almost exactly like it did when she purchased it 29 years ago.
“I just don’t know how on earth it was found after all of these years,” Hagan said.
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