Found Class Ring Returned To Daughter Of Former EPCHS Student

EVERGREEN PARK, IL — A class ring found 22 years ago has been returned to the daughter of an Evergreen Park Community High School student from the class of 1977. Debra Thiesson died in 2019 and had lost the ring swimming in Lake Tawakoni in the town of West Tawakoni, Texas, 44 years ago.

“This brings me joy,” said Thiesson’s daughter, Libby Turner. “It’s special to me because I know what it meant to her. I don’t have any specific thing personal to her.”

Randy Smith, who works for a Texas car dealership, instigated the search for the ring’s owner when a co-worker, Mark Jones, shared his finds while looking for arrowheads in the Texas lake during a drought. Among the arrowheads, Jones showed Smith the class ring he found in 2000.

>>> Circle Of The Ring: Daughter of 1977 EPCHS Grad To Get Mom's Lost Ring

When Smith saw the name of the high school on the side of the ring and the name “Debra Thiesson” inscribed inside, he immediately reached out to EPCHS, who confirmed that Thiesson had been a student at the school.

A retired high school teacher from Florida, Ben Daniel, whose hobby is reuniting found rings with their owners, saw the ring on the EPCHS Facebook page. With some social media sleuthing, Daniel found Thiesson’s 2019 obituary and reached out to her daughter.

On Tuesday, Turner met up with Smith and Jones at the men’s workplace and the ring was returned to Thiesson’s family.

“My mother’s birthstone is a yellowish green [peridot] for August,” Turner told Patch. “She never liked it. Her favorite color was blue, so I was surprised that the stone in her ring was pinkish red.”

Thiesson — called Debbie by her friends — was raised by her grandparents, Edith and Louis Thiesson, in Evergreen Park. Her grandfather worked for the Sweetheart Cup Company. After graduating from Evergreen Park Community High School in 1977, she rejoined her mother in West Tawakoni, Texas.

“My mother often told me about her high school ring and a couple of the girlfriends she hung out with in high school. She loved baseball and the Chicago Bears,” her daughter said.

Turner told Patch that she and her siblings spent many happy days fishing and swimming visiting her grandparents who lived on the lake.

“I remember that drought,” Turner said. “There were parts of the lake where you could walk all the way across. I would love to know exactly where [Jones] found it.”

Thiesson was 60 years ago when she died in 2019 from complications due to diabetes. She was a businesswoman who ran her own nail salon and a sweet treats store. An art and music lover, she wrote poetry and music. She sang and played numerous instruments, including the piano, guitar, and drums.

“That woman was amazing,” Turner said. “She could play any instrument you handed her.”

Thiesson raised seven children, outlived a son and grandson, but endured her losses with her rock hard Christian faith.

“We had the closest relationship; she was my best friend,” said Turner, who takes comfort in knowing she’ll be with her mom again some day. “It was her time to be with Jesus and nothing is going to bring her back, but having the ring brings her back a little, and having a part of her before she had me.”