Portales Couple Finds 1969 Pennsylvania High School Ring in Yard

By Wendel Sloan

APortales couple has found a 1969 high school ring from Pennsylvania in their front yard. Roland and Elaine Erwin, who live in the 1400 block of S. Ave. E in Portales, recently found the ring from Norristown High School in Pennsylvania while raking leaves.

“I saw something shiny, and wondered what it was,” said Roland, 82. “I was surprised when it turned out to be a ring.”

Elaine and Rowland Erwin with Richard’s ring that they found in their yard.

The Erwins live in a house that formerly belonged to the Phi Kappa Phi fraternity at Eastern New Mexico University. Suspecting that the ring, engraved with the initials RGH, might belong to a former fraternity member, they contacted ENMU for help. Using the RGH initials and Norristown, ENMU discovered that Richard George Holloway from Norristown graduated from ENMU in May of 1973 with majors in history and anthropology and a minor in anthropology. He is now a lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. That means the ring had been in the yard for at least 40 years.

The Erwins, married for 50 years, moved into the house in 1976. Elaine’s first husband was electrocuted at 28 when part of a pump he was working on at the Portales Cemetery came into contact with a power line, leaving her with three young children. Roland’s first wife was 27 when she was killed one year later in an automobile accident in Portales one-half mile from where Elaine’s husband had been killed.

“The ring is in very good shape, including the engraving,” said Elaine, 79, who graduated from ENMU in 1968 with degrees in education and religion, and taught for four years in Portales before becoming a full-time mother. Later she worked as the Department Secretary at KENW-TV, ENMU’s PBS station.

“We thought whoever lost it would sure love to find it,” Elaine stated.

Roland worked for ENMU running the automotive shop for the Physical Plant and KENWTV. He retired from ENMU in 1987 as the Maintenance Supervisor for KENW-TV/FM.

After ENMU contacted Richard and sent him a photo of the ring, he emailed back, “From the picture, this must be my ring. I used to live in the area around 14th Street. This is a surprise as I really don’t recall losing it. I guess there are some things we don’t recall.”

I would very much like to thank the couple who found my lost ring.

– Richard Holloway (BS 73)